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philliamwrites · 3 years

Text

the fault in our stars

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Characters: Claude & OC

Tags: #multiple dimensions, #dimension travelling, #platonic love, #mentions of major character’s death

Words: 4.5k

Summary: Claude receives a letter that states someone is out there able to help him fulfill his goal of unifying Fodlan and Almyra. Signed, “The Witch.” Of course he doesn’t trust this, but curiosity killed the cat, and so he sets out to find her and see what kind of help she can offer. It turns out, this witch carries more secrets than anyone Claude knows can carry and he, gentleman that he is, gladly lands her a hand.

Notes: A commission for @iam-miscellaneous

the fault in our stars

A twig snapped somewhere behind him and Claude whirled, an arrow nocked and ready, but it was just a little squirrel staring at him with big, round eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and it scurried off into the forest and disappeared.

Claude relaxed. The forest was quiet again since most of its residents had fallen into a deep slumber from which they shouldn’t wake up until Lone Moon. But Claude had read about dangerous creatures that didn’t fear the harsh Syopyr Taiga of the Galatea region, and stalked through the snow to hunt their prey. He’d much prefer not ending up inside the stomach of a moonbear or red wolf, thank you very much.

He should have brought Ákos with him. His wyvern was big and he would surely draw attention—literally the wyvern in a porcelain shop, but Claude would be save from any beast trying to have him as a snack. Also, Ákos was warm. Warm and with his white skin perfectly blending in between the snow covered pine trees that stood vigil like the statues of the four Saints in the monastery. But it would be hard for Ákos to move freely, so Claude relished in the comfort to know he was but a whistle away and would barrel down and crash through the woods to save him.

Were it not for the letter, Claude wouldn’t even be here in the first place.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the letter before him, its existence ever-present inside the pocket of his trousers as if it emitted heat, burning against his thigh.

I can aid you in your goal, wrote the mysterious person calling herself The Witch.

What goal specifically? Overthrowing Edgard? Unifying Fódlan and his mother land? Striking down the borders of discrimination and bigotry so people would finally stop slaughtering each other over the colour of their skin or what god they choose to worship? So many questions, and Claude hated any of them remaining unanswered. But for that, he had to find the witch’s cottage first and he’d been wandering through these woods for hours.

The Everglow stone certainly did keep his fingers from freezing in this relentless cold, but he knew he’d reach his limit soon and would have to return to base. He knew this time, Lorenz and Hilda would not allow him to leave so easily.

They’d been wary of it the moment the unknown owl had landed on Ákos’ head, carrying a letter addressed to “the Prince of a far away land.” Claude’s blood had run cold.

“Prince of a far away land?” Hilda had squinted at the paper spread out in front of them on the war table they kept outside under an open tent. “Who is that supposed to be?”

“And the things she offers, this ‘Witch,’” Lorenz had agreed sceptically, and thus luckily not noticed the quick glance Hilda stole Claude’s way. He’d always known Hilda knew more than she let people on, and Claude had given her one of his rare, tired smiles. She’d made a very serious, very un-Hilda like face, and turned back to the letter.

“I think I should check it out,” Claude had said, and their reaction was understandable, if a little too dramatic for his taste.

“If you die chasing this witch, could you die knowing you leave the Alliance in someone else’s hands?" Lorenz had said. That was very unusual for him. It had taken them five years to get there, and Claude wouldn’t just throw away that trust.

“What if she turns you into a frog?” Hilda had asked. That was very usual for her, and Claude was thankful for her effort to ease the mood after all the losses they’d suffered in the Battle at Gronder Field.

“Then you guys better start looking for a princess right about now,” he’d replied, his tone breezy when inside he’d been a storm. The only princess he knew had charged into the role of Emperor and would surely make frog leg soup out of him, and the only prince he’d known laid skewered without even a proper burial on a vast field that drank itself sick from all the blood spilt on it.

Things did not look good for the Alliance. As Claude had filed every advantage and disadvantage seeking out this mysterious person in alphabetical order, he looked at the owl that had delivered the message. Its black eyes were fixed on him expectantly, as though he should be well aware of what it sought as reward, but Claude didn’t know of course, and a second later, its sharp beak split open the skin at the back of his hand, drawing blood. It ruffled its feathers and took off to the sky, hooting in offence.

“Let’s hope you’ll start off better with this witch than her familiar,” Lorenz had commented, leaving Claude to tend to his wound. He’d hissed a curse, pressed his mouth against the wound and levelled a disbelieving look at his animal companion. Usually Àkos was no friend of man or animal. He barely tolerated Claude’s closest companions to saddle or care for him, but he’d allowed an unfamiliar owl to use his head as a seat, and peck at his friend and master.

Claude still pondered about that even after a week’s worth of travelling through the Alliance territory to reach the north of Faerghus. He didn’t like being short of options, but with the hand dealt to him by Fate, he could really use an ace up his sleeve.

The witch could have been more specific about her location though.

Come to the Okhotsk Forest and you will find me.

Well, that was a lie. He’d been out here for hours now, and still there is no sign of her, or her hut, or anyone living out here for that matter.

Claude would be mad furious if this turned out to be one of Hilda’s jokes. Though he doubted even she would go this far, especially during a time like this. War changed people. She wasn’t the giddy girl anymore, batting her eyelashes to let other people do her work. And yet he remembered this one time when his grandfather Oswald had celebrated the Leicester Alliance Founding Day and Hilda had written him a secret note to meet him, pretending to be his first crush. He’d been waiting in the cold until servants found him with a fever the next morning. But instead of getting angry, Claude was really impressed by Hilda’s lie and persuasion, and decided to have her as a friend rather than an enemy.

Claude shivered. Pegasus Moon was drawing its end. He could smell it in the crisp air—the time of new beginnings dawned. An opportunity for new plans, new schemes, and he wouldn’t be Claude von Riegan if he would pass up on them. That was, if he found his hopefully new ally. And just in that moment, he turned his head and caught sight of something dark in the corner of his eyes.

A hut.

Out of nowhere, a little hut stood in the middle of the clearing, looking as if it had been there since the beginning of dawn. It blinked into existence where seconds ago the forest ground stood empty. Claude blinked, thinking out of desperation he’d imagined it. But no matter which way he turned his head, what angle he leaned into, the hut didn’t magically disappear like the Fata Morgana he’d encountered during their trip around the Sreng Desert, where instead of finding one of the lost Saint’s weapons, they had stumbled upon an ancient, sentient beast.

Claude shook at the memory, feeling his mouth go dry just thinking about the scorching heat. Even days after their return to Derdriu, he’d found sand in places it wasn’t supposed to be.

Luckily, the forest was the complete opposite. It was eerily quiet. No birds heralded the spring, no foxes scurried through the underbrush in search for smaller prey. Among the blinding white of the freshly fallen snow that clung to everything, the black stoned hut with its small, red chimney looked like a picture out of a fairy book. Claude grimly remembered stories Dimitri had told him in front of the fireplace in one of the monastery’s big common rooms about a witch living in the deepest forests of Faerghus called baba yaga. Her house stood on chicken feet and she snatched away little children who went astray or lost their way through the forest.

But this was real. Claude had finally found her.

Approaching the hut carefully, his fingers danced across the hilt of the short sword attached to the belt around his hip. He wasn’t a fan, but since early days, Nader had taught him the way of the sword.

“You won’t always have the luck to find a bow,” he’d said after knocking little Claude to the ground for the fifth time in a single sparring session. Claude had endured without complaining, but he’d also made up his mind that day that the sharpest weapon on him would always be his mind.

Claude braced himself. Having finally reached what he’d been venturing to for the last weeks was wind in his sails, propelling him forward and lifting his hope. He knocked against the wood with his knuckles, once, twice. A third time.

Nothing.

Off to a good start.

“Hello?” he called through the door. His fingers itched to the letter as he wondered if he was supposed to say a secret code word. But he’d read the letter over a dozen times, analysed everything from the way she dotted her i's and crossed her t’s to how she constructed every sentence.

No secret password. No secret behavioural code. Nothing.

Claude decided to go for the doorknob. But when his hand hovered inches away from it, it turned by itself and the door creaked open. Claude shuddered. Inside, everything was dark. Heavy vermilion curtains didn’t allow any sunlight to stray inside. A minty scent lied in the air, not unpleasant, as if someone had recently taken a hot bath and thus steam still lingered in the air. He cautiously entered the hut, eyes straining to see any kind of movement. Everything was still.

Fabric rustled—no, not fabric. In one corner stood a perch, and on it sat the owl, regarding Claude with its black eyes. They stared each other down for a moment, in which Claude wondered if it had been the witch all along, playing with him. But the owl just regarded him sleepily, then turned around and chose to ignore his presence.

Claude allowed himself to relax a little. From outside, the hut looked small, barely the size of his bedroom at the monastery. But inside was enough space to hold multiple work stations and contain additional rooms to the east and west. One wall was completely lined with bookcases tall enough to reach the roof, neatly stacked with leather-bound books. When he looked closely, he could see gold letters shining off their spines. In front of if stood a large table that was buried under dozen maps, showing star constellations he’d never seen before. To his other side crinkled the fire place. A black kettle hung above it, and he could hear water boiling.

Claude approached the shelves standing beside the fireplace, filled with all kinds of different objects in containers and glass bottles. Glowing flowers, insects with rainbow coloured wings, sharp claws and large teeth swimming in murky liquid. He realised only then that he’d been expecting dead animals lying around with their abdomens wide open and jars filled with organs. But this place looked cosy. Like someone actually lived here instead of using it as a crazy laboratory.

“I see this place is to your liking?” sounded a voice from his right. Claude jerked back from the jar he was observing. He hadn’t even heard a door opening behind him.

She’d just appeared like a dream. Claude’s first thought was, She is very small, and for a moment he feared to meet with a child because he’d turned down the wrong path and missed his designated location completely. But then she opened the curtains with a flick of her wrist. Claude, blinded by the sudden light, flinched. He’d seen sorcerers and the like at the academy, had seen Marianne and Lysithea work their spells and yet he knew this girl in front of him was unlike any spellcaster he’d ever met.

Not girl, he realised as she stepped into the light, and he found her gaze linger on him. Those were no eyes of a young girl. For a brief second, Byleth’s face flashed in front of his eyes. Claude missed her. He did not look forward to face her once they’d reach the Imperial capital. If she didn’t come to him first.

“It is certainly … unique,” Claude said, moving back to the centre of the room with his back to the door. He didn’t like to be cornered, and though he guessed his chances weren’t bad facing an opponent a whole head smaller than him, he didn’t want to challenge Lady Luck. She didn’t appear to be very fond of him lately anyway.

“Shall we talk business then?” he quickly followed on, watching her move to the fire place. Taking the kettle, she poured steaming water in two prepared cups. He immediately recognised the smell, Almyran Pine Needles, his favourite tea. If there really was a spy among them, he’d have to find them quickly. Or she really was a witch and had insight in many things which meant he needed her on his side before Edelgard found her.

The Witch gestured to two heavy armchairs sitting in front of the fire and after a moment of hesitation, Claude crossed the room and sank in the cushions. Only then did he realise how exhausted he was from wading through knee-high snow. He took the cup from the witch’s small hands, but didn’t drink yet even though his body couldn’t wait to warm up quickly after the freezing temperatures outside. Besides, sometimes it was more about the company of a warm beverage. And he wanted to make sure she drank first to see if it was poisoned.

The witch took her first sip without hesitation, then looked at him daringly as if she knew exactly what he was waiting for. Claude didn’t trust her. But if she really would aid him, then he wouldn’t pass on that offer.

Bottoms up then. Tasting the nostalgic flavour, Claude immediately relaxed. There was the right amount of sweetness too, meaning she’d put in the right amount of sugar.

“Who are you?” Claude asked finally, the question burning on the tip of his month since he left Derdriu. The Witch took another sip. Her gaze roamed over his features, calculating yet at the same time somewhat caressing.

“A friend,” she answered, “who only wishes to see you win the war.”

Claude took that in for a second, allowing the tea to warm him from the inside. “I think I’d remember if I had someone peculiar like a witch as friend. And what exactly makes you think I need help?” he asked. “As far as I know, the Alliance is holding up pretty well.”

He had to test how much she knew. If there really was a spy, they had to find and eliminate them quickly.

The Witch placed her porcelain cup aside, and leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees, she looked like a mother about to scold her child.

“The Alliance is a powder keg about to explode,” she said calmly, yet with a voice that didn’t appreciate Claude trying to deceive her. “You can’t find a way to convince Lord Gloucester to join your forces and usually a nation divided does not win wars. Especially not against an opponent like the Emperor.”

Claude leaned back in his armchair, dragging his tongue over his lower lip, his mouth suddenly dry. Straight to the point, just how he liked it. “It doesn’t stop with getting old Gloucester to unite with House Riegan,” he said. “We need food, weapons. A new base of operation somewhere more central to send out our forces. Unfortunately, I doubt The Enlightened One will let us stay anywhere close to the Garreg Mach monastery.”

Something flashed in the Witch’s eyes when he mentioned Byleth. She pursed her lips, reminding him of Judith whenever she received a particularly unpleasant information.

“I see,” she said after a moment. “Your old teacher leads the Black Eagle Strike Force. That does make things more difficult.”

Claude leaned back in his armchair and stretched his legs, crossing them at the ankles. Interesting how she knew about the Alliance’s status but not that his old professor was on the enemies’ side. “Difficult how?”

“Let me deal with that once the time comes,” the Witch said. Claude wasn’t happy. He knew trust was a little too much, too quick given they knew each other for about five minutes. But she could give him a little more to work with here.

“Pardon me, but so far you haven’t really convinced me to accept your help, little witch.” He had to test the waters, see how far he could go in before the current dragged him under. The witch didn’t even blink at this nickname.

She mirrored his movement and locked her fingers in her lap. “Let’s just say my knowledge about certain things would aid you greatly in winning this war.”

“What things, pray tell.”

“Your plan to fend off the Imperial forces stationed in Daphnel. You won’t be able to occupy it for a long time before the Imperial army takes it back. You wonder if those knights and soldiers are better off stationed in Goneril to guard your supply shipments coming from Almyra, but you can’t say if your people would prefer to see an assertive ruler adamant on fighting the Empire or a generous ruler who cares more about protecting and nourishing his people.”

Once she finished, only the crackling fire made conversation with the burning wood. Claude didn’t avert his eyes from her piercing gaze, and she didn’t shy away when he cocked his head to the side, a grin slowly spreading on his face.

“So you do know a few things about me,” he said, and now he was the one mirroring her movement, leaning in closely. “But if you know about what keeps me awake at night, what do you know about my enemies?”

“Enough to end this war,” the Witch said, her eyes blazing with resolve, “if you listen to me.”

Claude raised his hand and pressed his palm to his heart. “I promise, should there be method in this madness, I will lend you my ear and listen what you have to say, little witch.”

She exhaled softly. Relieved, and Claude wondered how much of that conviction she’d shown was act. But he couldn’t begin to doubt this early, for the doubt would eat away at him and just this time, he wanted to believe whoever was their benevolent maker, he’d finally nudged Claude on the right path. He’d been without hope for so long, he’d forgotten how it tasted.

Claude stood, antsy to get back to his city and scheme away and finally, finally turn this war around. “How long do you need before you can join me in Derdriu?” he asked, moving towards the door when he noticed a strange apparatus next to it, showing a circle painted in different colours and a little arrow pointing at the part that was coloured a dark purple. When he turned, the Witch had followed right behind him, and Claude took a step back in surprise, his back gently pressing against the door.

She was smaller than him, yes, but her presence filled the whole room.

“I will finish a few things here, and then I will meet you there,” she said. She stretched her hand and rested in on the doorknob. Claude stepped away, allowing her to open the door, and was surprised when he saw Àkos waiting for him at the door step, liking snowflakes off his snout. When Claude raised his hand to pat him, he sneezed in his face.

Claude pulled a grimace. “Good to see you too, my friend.”

The witch followed him outside, and for the first time since their meeting, a smile had strayed on her face. She offered Àkos her hand, and before Claude could tell her to be careful of Àkos’ sharp teeth, he sniffed her fingers and gave a little confused huff before leaning in and allowing the witch to caress his smooth, leathery skin.

Now that was unusual, and maybe just a tiny bit, Claude felt betrayed. He swung on Árkos’ saddle, immediately relaxing at the familiar feeling of his wyvern’s steady, warm body. Before he took off to the skies, Claude turned to the witch and said, “You have to tell me who spies for you inside the Alliance. I might hire them as my new spy-master.” But she didn't give him a name, she didn't even smile thinking it was a joke. Her gaze was fixed to the woods stretching before them, her jaw set, and Claude knew that look. It would stare back at him in a mirror whenever he tried really hard not to cry.

“Your name,” he demanded. “I still don’t know your name.”

The Witch straightened her shoulders and raised her chin. “I will tell you once we win the war. Once we win, I will tell you everything.”

* * *

Claude tried to wipe the exhaustion away with his sleeve, but closing his eyes for even a second ran the risk of him dozing off. There was still so much to prepare for their defence of Derdriu. He had to block off the city, occupy the naval port and lead the reinforcements to each city gate leading to the heart of the capital. There was no moment to rest.

Fresh air. He needed cold, fresh air to clear his mind and wake him up.

Outside, knights and soldiers on night duty greeted him. They had nothing unusual to report, everything was calm. No movement from the enemy so far. Somehow, that didn’t reassure Claude at all, though he couldn’t say if he’d rather want the opposite.

His feet carried him to the outskirts of their camp, and there it was—standing out from all the other tents was The Witch's tent, its leather roof mirroring the constellations of the starry sky. Judging from the light inside, she was still awake, probably pondering about the upcoming battle just as he was. Claude crossed the clearing and opened the front flaps only enough for his voice to come through.

“It’s Claude. May I enter?” he asked. Something rustled. As if paper was quickly wiped away. A moment later, her voice called back to him, “Please come in.”

He ducked and entered her tent. Again, it was much larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside, yet just like her cottage, it was still simple. Instead of expensive, luxurious furniture, she decided to fill every nook and cranny with her magical apparatus’ and ingredients.

The Witch stood in front of a cherry wood table, wearing a simple, dark gown. From the way she tried to appear taller and held her hands behind her back, Claude knew immediately she was hiding something. He thought back to the sound of paper being quickly gathered and tried his shot.

“Writing to your lover?” he teased, settling in an armchair without waiting for an invitation.

The Witch blew back a black lock that stubbornly clung to her forehead. She crossed the room, and within a blink, the papers in her hands vanished. Claude gave an impressed whistle.

“He is more than that,” she said without any hesitation. “But are we lovers? No.”

“And how does one become become friends with a witch?” he asked, his curiosity piqued. She sat in the empty seat beside him, not bothering in the slightest about her posture. Claude liked seeing her relax around him. For the past few days, she’d been all over the camp, tending to the wounded or helping magic battalions with their spells.

He was surprised how easy it was to work with her. She effortlessly followed his train of thought and anticipated questions or knew exactly were to probe whenever he wasn’t certain about something and hoped no one else would notice. But she always noticed, as if she inherently knew his faults and weaknesses and therefore watched his back. If he didn’t know better, he’d assume this wasn’t their first time working together.

“I call everyone friend who offers me toffees,” the Witch said now, taking off her boots. Even though she’d been outside the whole day, there was no speck of mud on them, whereas Claude’s boots wore a mud crust he wasn’t proud of.

“Toffee.” Claude playfully stroked his chin. “I think I can supply some.”

“I would be so ever grateful.” She gave one of her rare smiles, growing slowly like the moon slipping slowly beneath the waves of a lake. Whenever Claude was capable of making her smile, pride bloomed in his chest.

He didn't know what it was about the Witch that made all the tight and careful knots inside his chest uncurl. Maybe that was what people meant when they said someone made them feel undone.

“How do you feel about our stand here?” he asked. “Do you think we’re prepared for Edelgard arrival?”

Immediately, she tensed, and Claude regretted bringing it up. They talked about tactics so much every day, they should be spared of it inside their tents, the only place of comfort and peace, but it seemed Claude had forgotten how to do small talk.

But the Witch just shifted her weight a little. “I don’t like lying to you, but the truth isn’t pretty.”

“I still want to hear it.” He needed to know their chances of winning. The truth might not be pretty, but more than that, he didn’t want to be lied to. He couldn’t say why, but especially from her, he didn’t want to hear a lie.

They held each other’s gazes, and Claude was impressed again by how black her eyes were. Darker than a starless night, he couldn’t see where the pupil ended and the iris began. Yet there was kindness in her eyes. Kindness and experience that told stories older than she appeared to be. But with no time to dwell on his theory, he tucked it away in a safe corner where he’d access it later. When this was all over and he’d have enough time to listen to her story.

After a moment, the Witch spoke, “I wish your success wasn’t depending on anybody else. I have prepared you to all my capabilities, but...”

“But we can’t say for sure what Edgard will do.” Of course they couldn’t. No one of them could read thoughts or look into the future. Claude was usually all for unpredictable variables to keep his mind reeling and working, but even facing Edelgard gave him more headaches then he asked for.

“No matter the outcome, I can promise that your city and its people will be save,” the Witch said. They’d been working together for a couple weeks now, but Claude had learnt early on that she kept her promises and it was nice to lean on someone for a change.

“That’s all that matters to me,” he confessed. “I don’t care what happens to me. But I cannot let down my people. The Alliance. Its future. It’s all that matters.” Because how else would he begin his peace-mongering without his Leicester Alliance unifying with his Kingdom of Almyra.

A dark shadow settled on the Witch’s face. Her eyes roamed over his face, taking in his features as if she wanted to commemorate them. Claude had to fight the urge to fidget, to flee from her keen gaze.

“The nation will learn how to move on when you are no more,” she said quietly. “But what about those you leave behind. Do you not care about your friends and comrades?”

“I care about what becomes of them after the Emperor captures my city and they are no more masters of their own fate.” Claude didn’t want to think about such a future. It would make him turn mad if he did.

“I know you think everyone has the might to forge their own paths. That fate is not absolute. But there are some fates you cannot change. You can only bow to them. Believe me. I’ve seen it many times. Too many times.” The Witch immediately clamped her mouth shut and turned her head away as if that would undo the words she just spoke. Claude hesitated. He wasn’t equipped to handle her surprising honesty. Honesty meant being vulnerable, and he’d never seen her like this. Sometimes it was easier to handle battalions and war generals than raw emotions, and Claude was thankful for the distraction fluttering it.

The Witch’s owl, that had been sitting on its trusty perch, flew through the tent and settled on the Witch’s shoulder, nuzzling it’s soft head against her cheek. The Witch smiled and scratched its chin. In return, the owl hooted and then proceeded to give Claude an accusatory glare as if he’d been the very reason for its mistress’ distress.

“Your little friend doesn’t like me at all,” Claude observed a second time since making acquaintance with with her feathery companion. “It’s like I offended him in some way.”

“She,” the Witch said mildly, “is fond of you. In her own way.”

Claude doubted that. “An unusual way to show her fondness of people. Pecking at them. Must your secret friend also endure this bullying or is he spared of it?”

“She treats everyone equally,” the Witch answered, and now he could see amusement crinkle in her eyes like the flying sparks of a fire. “My friend is no exception.”

“And is he a wizard like you? Or like us common folk?”

“He is,” the Witch began tentatively, “a just, young boy who heard the sound of flowing water in a world of sand and thus began to believe in hope. And this belief is a strong weapon, but the strongest weapon on him is his sharp wit and gilded mind.”

“Sounds like you hold him in high esteem.”

“I would burn cities and dethrone kings just to see his greatest wish fulfilled,” the Witch said, her gaze burning holes in Claude’s eyes. Something hot whipped through him, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Jealousy. Hot-white jealousy burnt inside him to have a friend this dedicated to him. Maybe that was what books spoke of when they told stories about soulmates, and right now, his soul longed for a relationship like that. To be understood and accepted without having to give anything in return.

He took a deep breath, and banished those thoughts where they didn’t hurt. “Your friend sounds like someone I could become friends with.”

“Yes,” she said, turning her eyes away from his. “You two are quite similar.”

Claude wanted to know what it would take to meet him. To sit alone with him and have a chance at hearing all the Witch’s secrets, unravel them one by one and learn more about her. But she did tell him she’d explain everything after he won the war, and Claude held onto that promise like a drowning man.

After he wished her good night and left her tent, Claude remembered Nader had told him a story once. Claude, barely seven years old, had strayed into the desert bordering a small port city in Almyra where his mother loved to take him on vacation. After hours upon hours in the scorching heat, when he’d already made peace with the thought that the wide sea of sand would be his burial, he’d stumbled upon a small oasis. To this day, he remembered the sound of rushing water from the small waterfall and diving into the cool depths until he finally was found by Almyran soldiers looking for him. He’d never told this story anyone. Now he stopped, turned around and nearly ran back to the Witch’s tent only to be stopped when horns blared through the night’s quiet, waking up the whole city.

The Emperor had arrived.

* * *

Smoke rose to the grey sky that looked as if at any moment, the clouds would open to lament and cry. When she descend the cobblestone streets, her head a melody of pain and anguish, no one stopped her. No one could stop her because no one could see her as she hurried through tight alleys and corners, her spell making her invisible to the untrained eye.

The port stood abandoned. Now that it was occupied, there was no reason to guard it, and the Imperial troops had moved on to the centre of Derdriu where the important buildings stood. The embassy with its golden roofs, the Leicester mansion with its hundreds rooms and the famous Round Table.

But she didn’t care about silent stone monuments that would live to see another thousand years. She only cared for the one person who could have held it all together.

The Witch found Claude von Riegan lying on his stomach, his face drained in his own blood. The gaping wound in his chest still bled, a horrible hole left by none other than the nasty bone shards of Aymr. His eyes were still open but unfocused, staring ahead at the darkening sky.

Her stomach churned. No matter how often she saw him like this, it never got easier. The Witch sunk to her knees, and gently cradling Claude’s body into her arms, she whispered, “Forgive me, old friend. I was unable to save you yet again.”

There was no answer. As always, silence was her only companion, and grief her only caretaker. She teleported herself and Claude’s body outside the capital city where she looked for a secluded space outside the city, and using her own hands, she dug a grave deep into the earth. He deserved to be buried in his home land, the place he loved more than anything, but there was no time. There was never enough time.

She finished when the sun hung low on the horizon, painting the sky in hues of red and pink. One moment, she stood in front of the mound, and one single blink later, she walked through the front door of her cottage. Exhaustion bled her dry when the door closed behind her, and with a slow twist of her wrist, she turned the doorknob. A click sounded next to her, and for a second, everything turned black.

When light returned, everything was the same, and yet everything had changed.

On her way to the bathroom, she put water to boil in a black kettle hanging above the fireplace, and laid out a nice porcelain set of cups and Almyran Pine Needle tea for her guest.

The bath was already ready for her. She shed her dirty, ragged robes, and lowered herself in the hot water, feeling it immediately sooth her hurting limbs. As always, it took some time to clean the blood and dirt under her fingernails from digging Claude’s grave. She scrubbed herself raw until nothing was left of the previous world, and stepped outside the bath like a new born child. When she dried herself, she heard three sharp knocks at the door, and a voice calling out. Willing her new, clean robes to come and dress unto her with a flick of her wrist, the Witch took a last, long look at herself in the mirror.

Thirty tries. None of them had succeeded, and she was becoming so very tired of it all. With every try to save her friend, she’s learnt new things about the worlds and dimensions, and yet none had been enough in the end. She knew that chances to succeed were higher whenever Byeth was leading the Alliance. In some rare cases, in little pocket dimensions that would immediately dissipate when she tried to set foot in, the remaining Kingdom forces had joined the Alliance and victory would lay at the tip of her fingers. So close, and still unreachable.

But she would never cease her fight against the world that wanted to see her dear friend suffer and fail. Even if that meant bending rules, and changing to something that wasn’t human. She would make death bow to her, and once he was her servant, she would put her dear friend free of his curse of never-accomplishing happiness.

The witch squared her shoulders, and swallowed these thoughts and her still-fresh grief deep down where they didn’t hurt anymore. When the door quietly swung open, and she saw Claude von Riegan inspecting her shelf of ingredients, she said, “I see this place is to your liking?”

#philliamwrites #ao3 #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #claude von riegan #fe3h claude #fe3h claude von riegan #fire emblem three houses claude #fire emblem three houses claude von riegan #fe3h original character #platonic friendship #dimension travelling #sort of au

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tiny-space-robot · 3 years

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Okay so Fire Emblem anon here!! Here's a Kinda Super Long Bc I Got Carried Away description of a few Fire Emblem games, plus some characters that seem like they hit tropes you like!

The good news is that there's not a super huge overarching timeline, there's several smaller timelines that are seperate from one another except for the crossover games. I'm gonna go with describing the newer ones that you're most likely to be able to get your hands on and play; a lot of people complain that they lean into some anime-tropey stuff and are too easy, but tbh, that's a perk just as often as it isn't. Basically, it's Game of Thrones, but rated T and with more cute girls and old men who are friendly instead of creepy.

Tbh, it's a turn-based strategy game with visual novel elements for characterization, if strategy games aren't your thing and you're just interested in the characters, watching the support conversations on Youtube might be more your thing. All the characterization, none of the resetting the same goshdang level thirty times. Anyways, description of the games in passing, including a brief description of the plot concept, pros and cons, trigger warnings, and some characters you might be interested in if you're just looking up characters.

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Awakening: for the 3DS. Follows Robin, an amnesiac mage, after they're found in a field by a band of knights called the Shepherds. Involves the undead, a twink in a mask, timey-wimey shenangians, and the usual cast of oddballs you'd expect from a Fire Emblem game.

Pros of Awakening: customizable player character, intro of Casual mode (turns off permadeath) and the Pair Up system, which lets you put characters together for shipping reasons strategy and stat boosts. Also doubles as a shipping simulator, since you can pair off characters and meet their later in the game due to said timey-wimey shenangians.

Cons of Awakening: there are some....very concerning combos of names/skin tones/plot relevance for certain characters, so go in with a warning about implicit racism. Also if you like strategy games, this game is relatively easy to break and make "too easy," but tbh that's what Lunatic Mode (the Ultra Unfair Hard Mode) is for.

Trigger warnings across the main plot: underhanded politics, attempted assassinations, martyrdom, an optional character is implied to stalk Robin but idk how to tag that, identity crises, conflicts within a family, character who isn't you looks like you, backstory child abuse, an optional character is a bad portrayal of DID if you squint?

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Fates: is actually a group name for two games set in the same universe, and a DLC bonus story: Birthright, Conquest, and Revelations. All for the 3DS. All three games star Corrin, a pacifist raised in seclusion in the kingdom of Nohr. Each game reflects a different path Corrin can take in navigating the war between the nations of Nohr and Hoshido: Birthright has them stand with Hoshido, Conquest with Nohr, and Revelations has them strike out (nearly) alone. Each path has a completely different storyline, cast of characters, and difficulty curve.

Pros of Fates: honestly, the characters here cater the most to the avid pro-shipper and multi-shipper. I just love this cast. Both Nohr and Hoshido have four members of the royal family you can play and get to know, each of those royal family members has two retainers who are various levels of dedicated and/or unhinged, and the cast just widens and widens. Also a character customization and shipping simulator point for the same reasons Awakening gets it. Also, canon fujoshi rights (there's a character with a skill called Daydream, which boosts her stats when two male characters are paired up near her. one of us, one of us). Also the first game with canon queer characters: both Rhajat and Niles are bi.

Cons of Fates: unfortunately, the writing is kinda rushed or badly translated in some places. Also *shakes IntSys* my lore! Give me more lore! Also, iirc, you could get both physical games in a bundle for a discount when they came out, but not anymore, so it's sorta like Pokemon with version exclusives. Which is less fun, since you can't directly trade characters. Also the fandom for this game is RIFE with discourse, which is kinda sad bc I just wanna talk my ships with ppl sjxhdjdn

Trigger warnings for Fates: child abuse might as well be Nohr's middle name, in-universe racism (since Hoshido is p obviously Japan-inspired, and a lot of Nohrians are rancid to Hoshidans), kidnapping, on-screen murder, lots of fighting your loved ones (on both main routes, you gotta fight the playable characters from the other side AAA), su-c-de, death of sibling(s) in certain routes, demonic-like possession, there's like six characters people can read as bad mental illness rep, Niles especially is discourse bait for being a kinky (yes that's canon) bi man of color but also he's awesome so die mad antis

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Shadows of Valentia: for the 3DS. A remake of Gaiden, the second game in the series. Follows Alm, a farm boy from a small village in Zofia, and Celica, his childhood best friend. Zofia and the nation to its north, Rigel, are two nations ruled by the dragon gods Mila and Duma, respectively. Normally, they're in equilibrium, but Rigel is invading and Mila is missing, prompting Alm and Celica to independently investigate the problem.

Pros of SoV: the most like the old-school Fire Emblem games, but it also has the permadeath-off mode. also the first to be fully voice acted! The art style is gorgeous, and the plot was polished up from the old game--two characters names Berkut and Rinea were added, and they are PEAK OTP the diskhorse can die mad. Also the cast is pretty fun all around, from buddy squad and the older brother/dad figure they adopted along the way to "hello this is my gang of childhood friends, we're gonna kill a god" Also introduces Mila's Turnwheel, which lets you rewind your moves if you realize you goofed big time and screwed yourself over.

Cons of SoV: has the most references to other games, but you won't, like, be lost if you don't get them. You just might have a few interludes of "who tf is Camus/the White Wing Brigade/etc" but it's easy enough to look up on the wiki. Also tbh, the plot kinda drags in the middle, there's some filler battles to try and make it feel more realistic and it feels...weird. Also no custom character, you are Alm and Celica and you will Like It.

Trigger warnings for SoV: you know that thing where a girl character gets killed off for a guy character to angst over? the game starts with a fakeout version of that. also a character slowly goes mad over the course of the plot (but it's really well done imo?), there's some self-sacrifice stuff in there, classism is a major theme, possession/selling your soul™, there's a couple of levels where you're exploring tombs/prisons, I'm sure there's something else but I'm forgetting right now

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Three Houses: on the Switch. The newest game in the series, and the most polished imo? Stars Byleth, a wandering mercenary turned teacher at the Officer's Academy. The Academy, housed in Garreg Mach Monastery, teaches youths from across the land of Fodlan how to be warriors, commanders, and knights. Students are sorted into three houses based on their country of origin: the Black Eagles are from ghe Adrestian Empire, led by the heiress-apparent Edelgard; the Blue Lions are from the kingdom of Faerghus, led by prince Dimitri; and the Golden Deer are from the Leicester Alliance, led by Claude, grandson of the Duke. You choose one of these houses to lead, and then everything quickly goes sour.

Pros of Three Houses: It's such a rich experience! The music is incredible, there's so much lore, and you can wander around the Monastery and hang out with the students to your heart's content. Also, it's four storylines for the price of one, even if they're all relatively similar in the first half. It does a pretty solid job of weaving together its themes into a satisfying narrative that will make you consider everyone involved. Also we got our first bi main lord (Edelgard) and non-white main lord (Claude is mixed race) in one fell swoop! Also, given the setting, it's teacher/student ship heaven.

Cons of Three Houses: just gonna come right out and say it: one of the villainous factions in the game is pretty substantially tied up with some anti-semitic tropes. There's no way to ignore it, it's just bleh, and I'm not gonna send anyone in without that warning. Also, though there's some characters you can persuade to switch sides, or spare, there's no route where there's a happy ending for everyone. Also there are so many people who are fake deep about the themes of the game, so be ready for the worst takes imaginable about your faves. also super trigger heavy, see below.

Trigger warnings: MANY. Garreg Mach and the Church of Seiros are very reminiscent of catholic religious stuff, for anyone with religion triggers, blood in cutscenes, death of a parent, death of a sibling (different characters), major gaslighting vibes in some places, lots of people going unhinged, some white savior™ vibes in places, body horror, creepy ass weaponry, backstory genoc-de (mostly not related to the anti-semitism), blood magic (definitely related to the anti-semitism), in general it goes to a lot more effort than the other games to make you think about what's Actually going on, even if it doesn't always work.

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As for characters you'd like, if you just want to look some characters up, my recommendations based on what I understand about you include:

Awakening: Libra fits 'gnc man of the cloth' so well it's actually a conversation in game: "so what's a woman of the cloth doing here?" "...man, sir, man of the cloth." And Then He Never Gets Misgendered Again. Also Nowi's supports sometimes feel like a jab at antis-- she's a manakete, a person who can transform into a dragon. Manaketes also grow really slowly, as in "middle aged looking manaketes are like 1000 years old," so she's got major baby face and copes with being mistaken for a teenager by making jokes. Also Gregor, who she first appears with, is pretty fun--older mercenary with a thick accent who is like 80% here for a good time. Also Walhart, who's a villain but got some content added as DLC.

Fates: any interactions between Corrin, Leo, and/or Camilla are probably right up your alley--Camilla is obsessively protective over her siblings in a way that's Very Definitely Platonic™, and Leo also canonically has a crush on her in something that was cut in the English release. Also Gunther--once upon a time he was your classic knight in shining armor, now he's semi-retired, Corrin's personal guard, and covered in scars (and his voice is gorgeous too)

Echoes: my biased answer is to listen to every single line Ian Sinclair read for Berkut because he absolutely did NOT have to go that hard. My actual answer is to point you in the direction of the pegasus sisters Catria, Palla and Est, or maybe the older gentleman who's the head of the Priory, I forgot his name oops abbdbd. Also Clive is a devoted husband to one Mathilda, who looks just like an older version of his sister Clair 🤔

Three Houses: knowing you, you'd adore Hanneman--an older professor who's extremely passionate about his work, to the point where he tends to forget personal space and such. Also Seteth, like I mentioned before (join me in simping for him and his gorgeous pecs) and like, honestly, I know ppl make jokes about Alois but he's rlly good. Soft, awkward but he doesn't care, dad jokes everywhere. And also Mercedes, both because she's the biggest sweetheart imaginable and everyone should love her, but also bc she is just walking potential for the kinds of stuff you post on this blog. On one hand, she's the oldest student at the Academy and attached at the hip to one of the youngest, Annette (tho people act like they have a way bigger age gap then they actually do) and on the other hand, she has a long-lost half brother she can encounter (who I will not name for HUGE HUGE spoilers reasons) who she spends the rest of her life with in one of her endings. Heck, he has three possible endings total! Total!

Basically I brought the games up bc I'm used to being on the side of the fandom where everyone shoos anything uncomfortable under the rug, but there's so much material here that's being wasted I SWEAR

If you have any other questions I can send another anon? Your call! Thanks for hearing me out I love ur blog :3

OKAY!!! sorry for answering so late, but this ask was pretty much a BOOK (not that I´m complaining though! thank you so much! ;;u;;)

and from what I read here, I THINK if I´m going off on my first fire emblem adventure, I´ll try and pick up three houses if I get the chance! I have read your trigger warnings (thank you so much! ;u;) and I think I can take it! >:3

again though, I am really, really not a fan of anime and the anime artstyle in general (blergh! XP) so I´m not sure how I´ll cope with that in particular, but then again, an artstyle does not make a game! u3u

AND HANNEMAN SOUNDS LIKE A WINNER TO ME!! I looked him up and OOOF!!! he may not have NEARLY as many wrinkles as I´d like him to have, but the facial hair is definitely a step in the right direction! ;3c

NOW YOU GOT ME INTERESTED!!

LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

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metalempire · 5 years

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The Agarthans Did Nothing Wrong: A defence of the villains of Three Houses and also Edelgard

Spoilers ahead for Fire Emblem Three Houses, obviously.

The point of this post boils down to fuck the church it’s bad and stop calling Edelgard a fascist when that’s not what fascism it you braindead idiots please use google and basic reading comprehension for once in your lives. It also covers the wider ideas of the world of Fodlan and bigger picture political impacts and social structure with a historical viewpoint applied to it. Obviously, the villains do bad shit to achieve their goals, but the actual goals far outweigh the price paid to obtain them.

The whole thing will be long and thus under a readmore.

So after playing all the routes and nabbing all the lore and then looking back on the Crimson Flower route I ended up concluding that the villains weren’t actually the villains so much as they were the people killing the most amount of other people at any given time and thus villains by proxy. The actual villain is Rhea, or rather Sothis, kind of. To dive into that we need the basic backstory of Rhea and Sothis, which is given in Verdand Wind. The rough summary is Sothis breathed life into Fodlan, and her children, the Nabateans, a race of immortal dragon people (basically manaketes) ruled over the land. This included the human race, and eventually enough humans are said to have seen themselves as gods and challenged Sothis and the Nabateans in a war that humanity ultimately lost. Those humans were the Agarthans, better known as Those Who Slither In the Dark or TWSITD for short. They retreated underground and created Shambhala, which would become an advanced civilisation and their base. Meanwhile Sothis rests, and the surviving Nabateans live in Zanado with her. Nemesis comes along, kills Sothis in her sleep, drinks her blood and makes the Sword of The Creator from her bones and then massacres the Nabataeans with the 10 Elites to make the other Crests and Hero’s Relics from their bodies. The survivors of this are Rhea, now known as Seiros, and the 4 Saints, who go on to create the Adrestian Empire, beat Nemesis and 10 Elites and create the Church of Serios. The rest of the lore plays out as we know it. However, Nemesis wasn’t a hero, but a level 99 kickass bandit who was working with the Agarthans to get back at Sothis, which is why they recovered his body and that of the 10 Elites. The King of Liberation is the name they gave to him, more on the meaning of that later.

Edelgard also reveals that the Empire and the Church pretty much exist to control humanity, with the Church as the religious and social control and the Empire with the political and legislative control. Though Kingdom and Alliance came to be, so long as they had the national religion be Seiros, then they were under church influence all the same. So long as the church controls human culture and belief, it doesn’t really matter. The nobility system is also put in place by Seiros, using the crests created from her fallen brethren that humanity now has, in order to have a pseudo-Nabataean rule vicariously lived through them, which is why the nobles hold power in all regions, and why the Crests have the myth perpetuated as gifts from the goddess alongside their weapons. The church has its’ approved houses all naturally be pious on some level (see: one of Lorenz’s dialogue options earlygame in the monastery where he asks if you come to pray, even though he isn’t highly religious, he explains all nobles must be pious on some level) in order to instill the faith in the ruling powers, and thus, their ideologies and social practices will endure.

The Insurrection of Seven is very important to all this, since Hanneman reveals that the Emperor was trying to take power away from the nobles so he could control the Empire himself. On the outside this looks like a dictator kind of move, yet in context of the world of Fodlan, this is hum trying to regain power of the Church to be able to determine the fate of the Empire without the Church. The nobles won and the Emperor lost power, yet the Empire does not collapse because regardless, the Church has control thanks to the instilled ways the nobles operate originating from the interests of the Church.

Now that we know all this, it can be quite obvious that the Church, ruled by the last surviving Nabataeans, namely Rhea, is the continuation of the original social order. Dragons controlling humanity, albeit less overtly this time. With this in mind, the Agarthans didn’t think themselves as gods, but, considering the name they gave to Nemesis, they were simply humans who wanted to decide their own fates, to govern and rule themselves. In Hubert’s A Support, we hear him echo their very sentiments, in which he expresses the importance of humanity for humans, and how inhuman creatures with incredibly long lifespans can’t possibly have enough humanity to know what is best for humankind. Personally I’m inclined to agree with him here, since it’s a very logical point to make. Humankind needs to make advancements in science, culture, medicine, architecture, politics, language, agriculture and technology in order to survive. Living beings need to advance over time and evolve, which is what happened in our world, we developed civilisations and technologies and slowly improved everything over time to reach the point we’re at now. Immortal dragons have far less of a need to make all this progress, their lives aren’t short and limited, the future of their kind depends not on progress, but on stagnant peace “How lovely it would be for this moment to last forever. To hold on to this stolen time, for you and I to create a world without end.”- Rhea, after you complete Chapter 10. The best way to illustrate this is the compare Shambhala with the rest of Fodlan. Shambhala is a much more advanced city, with glowing walls and electricity flowing through it, with magical technology and powerful animated titans, as well as missiles that they use in Verdant Wind, controlled by magic, but clearly made of technology. The Agarthans made advancements in magic and technology when absent of the control of the Nabataeans, of the church, while Fodlan is forever stuck in the middle ages, with no changes made in the thousand years of history, forever a medieval world. With the Nabataeans in power, with the church in power, humankind is forever stuck in stagnancy, never advancing.A great example of this backfiring is when Faerghus experiences a plague that almost ends them all, yet they’re saved by Cornelia. When Cornelia is fought as a boss, she uses Agarthan technology, and is either one of them, or an ally to the Agarthans, as Thales mentions her importance in Crimson Flower, and punishes Edelgard for killing her by blowing up Arianrod with a missile. Cornelia used the advancements in technology, and likely medicine, to be able to beat the plague, which wouldn’t be possible in the stagnant world the Church preserves.

That’s where Edelgard comes into all this. As the Flame Emperor, she is given the power of two crests, the Crest of Flames no less, after the prototype experiments on Lysithea were a success, in order to have enough power to rival Rhea, and to reshape the world with the power of the progenitor god, the same power Byleth has. Edelgard endured the torment because of two factors; Agarthan desires and the Insurrection of Seven. With her uncle Arudnel being Thales, it was clear he planned on using her, and had infiltrated the royal family, but with the insurrection, it meant the nobles had made it unsafe for her to be in Enbarr. Everything lined up for her to be experimented on and to become the Flame Emperor. She had witnesses her father be defeated by the corrupt nobles of the Church, and she had seen her family die because of the importance of Crests. And so, rather than grow an eyepatch and cry about it, she takes her trauma and pain, and resolves to carry on the Agarthan legacy, but as she states, “There will be no salvation for you and your kind.”, Edelgard has no intention of letting them go free, even though they want the same thing, to liberate humanity from the control of the Nabateans, to allow life itself to move forward, she cannot forgive what they’ve done, and turns on them in the Epilogue of Crimson Flower for all that they did to get here. This is arguably hypocritical of her, but in the end it does also help to make right her own wrongs. It will never absolve her of starting a war that claims lives, but as far as history in the far future she creates is concerned, she took the fight to the right people to kill, and then did it again. History doesn’t care for the people and places lost in the past as much if the future they died to create is a good one. If human progress becomes a reality, then it is considered worth it in the end by those who live in a better age. Edelgard wiped out the Alliance and the Kingdom, and unified Fodlan, all to break the hold of the Church. She took a hard stance and presented an ultimatum, either renounce the Church or die. In her mind, and on a larger scale perspective, the Church is very much like a disease, an infestation that takes hold of the mind and the beliefs. If she compromises, the nobility system will endure and cause pain to people like her, MIklan, Sylvain, Ingrid, Marianne, Lysithea and so many more.

Interestingly, Edelgard doesn’t oppose religion. When fighting Rhea in chapter 12, she states she has not made an enemy of the goddess, only of the church. What this means is Edelgard allows religion as a belief, and is fine with Sothis worship on a personal level, but has clearly drawn the line with the church, which exists to control people on a sociopolitical level, and is ruled by a literal dragon, not a human with human interests in mind. For her, religion as a belief is fine, but as an institution, it has too much power over the world, and has not been used for the benefit of humanity, but of the Nabataeans. This is further reinforced by the fact that Rhea used humankind for her own ends, using Byleth and those who came before them to try and resurrect Sothis, and have her mother rule the world once more. For Edelgard, this would create further disparity, where a literal god would rule the world, rather than humankind, and so things would only stagnate further, and possibly degrade. Due to their belief system of worship, people would be subservient to a resurrected Sothis, never rebelling or complaining, becoming like slaves and ultimately never advancing as a species. Edelgard had to destroy the church, wipe out the remaining Nabateans (you actually miss two of them on Crimson Flower lol so she didn’t even manage to make them go extinct) and give humanity’s destiny back to itself, shattering Rhea’s ambitions and allowing the world to move forward. Her path is very similar to Emperor Rudolf’s from Shadows of Valentia, starting a war in order to ultimately have events play out that have old gods of the world, who were degenerating into madness, die out and give the land back to humankind. Edelgard does much the same, using a war to liberate humanity as a collective whole from the reign of the Nabateans, crushing their institutions of power and setting her own in place instead. Whether or not this creates a better future is unknown, but the potential for that future can exist now, whereas under the rule of the Church, it could never be possible.

Edelgard and Agarthans brought death and suffering to many people, but in a world ruled by people instead of stagnant gods, an even greater number of people could be living in a world far better in every way to one that came before it. In the end, it’s a question of if the means justify the ends. Is it worth war and bloodshed, for the sake of freedom from the control of institutions that are self concerned and perpetuate social and political misery and stagnancy? Only the people of a future Fodlan can answer that question, but honestly, I think it’s worth taking a chance on a better future for all humankind, even if it means alot of people won’t live to see it, because in the end, our future is the only thing we have as a species, and it shouldn’t be in the hands of those who could never understand what it means to live and die, and to move forward through time.

Also turns out all of this is pointless anyway cos Verdant Wind is a better outcome anyway thank god for Claude Von Ending Racism for proving everyone is colossal idiot.

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #fire emblem three houses spoilers #long post #like really fuckin long post

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professionalwritingnerd · 5 years

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Fodlansona: Kathryn Aleena d’Beau | Kit d’Beau

Her name changes in between the timeskip.

I finally got most of her basic information sorted, it’s 6:30 in the morning, i’m tired, ya’ll have fun reading, I’m going to bed

~~~

The eldest daughter to the current Head of House d’Beau in the Leicester Alliance, Kathryn lived a very isolated childhood in the mysterious country of Morfis with her mother, father and brothers until they all relocated back to the Alliance where her father grew up. Still sheltered from the world by her overprotective parents, she’s a very naïve and withdrawn, but brave and adventurous young girl with a curiosity for the world around her and the people in this strange new land. However, her eccentric, unique and impulsive personality can make it difficult for her to fit in and connect with those around her.

~~~

Age: 17 > 22

Birthdate: 20th of Garland Moon (6/20)

Gender: Female > Non-Binary [She/They Pronouns]

Orientation: Bisexual/Biromantic

Nationality: Morfis, though occupies Alliance territory

House: Golden Deer

Class: Morfis Seer [Unique Class] - Strengths: Reason, Faith, Gauntlets, Riding - Weaknesses: Axes, Lances, Flying - Hidden Talent: Authority

Crest?: Major Crest of Noa [Enhances the power of healing skills and her illusionary magic]

Love Interest(s): Claude vonRiegan

Backstory: - Her father was the younger brother to House d’Beau. Both brothers were born with minor Crests of Noa, but the older brother was already heir. Her father close to enroll in military for the Alliance, specifically with their sea-faring Navy defenses that protected in-coming and out-going trading vessals. A twist of fate and a nasty storm during oceanic training exercises brought the normally closed-off Alliance ship to the shores of Morfis, where her father met her mother. They fell in love and were unofficially married, though not legitimately recognized by Fodlan. He was called back to the Alliance by duty, but he made every effort to find his way back to Morfis to be with his wife and children. - Kathryn was born only a few years after her older brother, and she grew up the first eight years of her life in Morfis, heavily isolated from others by her overprotective mother. Being alone and hyper-sheltered, she became highly engrossed with the unique magics of Morfis and found herself to have a natural gift for it. She was a happy child, but a strange one, very much marching to the beat of her own drum. - The initial plan was for her father to officially relocate to Morfis after his tour of duty was over. Plans changed when his older brother passed away very suddenly before he could produce an heir of his own, leaving Kathryn’s father as the only person able to take over as Head of House d’Beau. He had to stay in Fodlan as a result, and in order to stay with her husband, Kathryn’s mother followed suit with their children. She was introduced to Alliance nobility early on and, despite being from Morfis, was generally well-accepted as just any other commoner (save maybe by Count Gloucester), though she became something of a recluse shortly afterwards; keeping a tight hold on her children as well. - Despite their marriage being legitimized shortly after the revelation of the secret family, there was still much talk and debate about whether or not Kathryn would become heir to House d’Beaudue to the illegitimate nature of her birth. By all rights, her older brother should have been heir: He was oldest, had a minor Crest of Noa, showed a deep interest in the position, had permission from his mother to explore the idea that Kathryn didn’t... but at 12, she was announced as the heir to House d’Beau regardless. Due to her crest being a Major one and her father finding her brother ill-suited for a leadership position. Apparently the decision followed a nasty fight he had with his parents; her brother disappeared shortly after the announcement was made. - Kathryn’s mother took most of her social anxiety and stress out on her, keeping a tight hold on her and pressuring her to stay away from children her age. She wanted to go to the School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad, but was pressured out of it by her mother. She was tutored privately at home until she was about sixteen, when she finally decided she couldn’t stand just being an observer of the rest of the world anymore. Especially not if she was going to take over as the Head of House d’Beau. - It was a process, though; exploring the town surrounding her family’s estate, spending a few months touring the Alliance territory, even spending some time in Fhirdiad to take some courses from the School of Sorcery. And when it came to enrolling into the Officer’s Academy, she did it herself. Not strictly for the training and learning; she didn’t need much of that, in her opinion. She was just after the experience, and the opportunity to meet people her age and make friends. She was graciously accepted into the Officer’s Academy, and left her home without a second thought.

Extra Information as I Think of It under the fold

- In Pre-timeskip, she is squarely female, but post-timeskip, she’s transitioned to being non-binary. Her pronouns change to They in Post-Timeskip. - Her unique magic grants her a certain degree of telekinesis and light generation/manipulation. She mainly uses this for mundane tasks, but can also use this to use weapons in-battle in placement for her lacking physical capabilities. - While her default ship is with Claude, in-game, she’d have potential paired endings with: Lorenz, Annette, Ashe, Sylvain, Lysithea, Dorothea and Ignatz. - When she came to the Officer’s Academy, she brought with her several cats and a couple dogs as emotional support animals to deal with the stress and anxiety of change. Most of the animals students see roaming around the monastery are hers and will call when she summons them.

Claude’s Description of her to Byleth: She’s the eldest daughter to Marquiss d’Beau, and is admittedly only the heir to their house on a technicality. She’s a hard-worker and pretty quick-witted, if not a bit naive. I’m not sure if she was just sheltered or if it’s something else, but it always seems like she doesn’t fully understand how things work around here. Keep an eye on her, would ya?

Pre-TS Battle Quotes: - “Move, please.” (Critical) - “Hold still!” (Critical) - “Coming through!” (Critical) - “I did it? I did it!” (Enemy Downed) - “I wish we didn’t have to do it like this...” (Enemy Downed) - “Ha! Oh, if my mom could see me now!” (Enemy Downed) - “Hah, nope, not here for this. I’m out...” (Retreat) - “G-God, God no... Someone help... I don’t wanna die...!” (Death)

Post-TS Battle Quotes: - “You can’t stop me!” (Critical) - “Here’s the might of a Morfian!” (Critical) - “Hold still!” (Critical) - “Coming through!” (Critical) - “I do this for him.” (Enemy Downed) - “I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal.” (Enemy Downed) - “You won’t stop me here.” (Enemy Downed) - “Sorry, guys, I-I have to pull out... I hope I helped some...” (Retreat) - “Guess that’s it, huh...? Well... G-Good luck, guys... Live long lives for me... okay?” (Death)

#fodlansona #fire emblem three houses oc #self-insert #very very self-indulgent #fun fact: my hair did genuinely used to be that long #also that's not what her crest looks like but it's a metaphor #four paths in the game that'd i'd just rather merge into one story of 'everyone lives happily ever after'#i actually genuinely don't know if her morfis roots would be public knowledge or not???#i wanna say they're not a secret per say; just not something everyone knows #whatever i'm tired #may write more about her another day

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dlamp-dictator · 5 years

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Allen Rambles About Three Houses

So last week I finished up my Black Eagles playthrough of Fire Emblem Three Houses. It was... okay. It wasn’t great. I had a few issues with the pacing how quick the plot move to the final battles and the lack of build-up for the big climaxes in the last few chapters, but I had a good time overall. Still, I was left unsatisfied. Between Fates, Echoes, and even Warriors, I think I enjoyed this game the most, but also had the most uncertainty with.

Fates was a fun game with fun mechanics and fun customization options if you were willing to grind for it, but also had the worst stories and narratives. Echoes had the best story out of the three, but had some game mechanics I really wasn’t a fan of like dungeon stamina and enemy AI nonsense. And Warriors was just fun fanservice as a fan of Dynasty Warriors, but was overall boring and repetitive after completing the story mode.

Three Houses honestly succeeds in every category so far. It has an engaging story, fun gameplay mechanics with a lot of customization options, and a lot of fun interactions and cute moments in it. But even so, I still can’t help but have issues with it.

So... I want to talk about that for a bit. I want to cover what I like and what I dislike about this game so far. Just talk a little bit with the fanbase to see where my feelings and thoughts are compared to everyone else’s.

But first, as always, a synopsis for those unfamiliar with Three Housed.

Fire Emblem Three Houses is a strategy game for the Nintendo Switch and the 16th game in the franchise. This game in particular focuses on three heirs to three different nations on the continent of Fodlan. The proud and commanding Edelgard of the Adrestian Empire who has great ambitions for her nation and its people despite how radical and blasphemous her manifesto seems. The kind well-mannered Dimitri of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus who’s smile and inviting nature hides a dark and maleficent past that still haunts and eats away at him to this day. And the easy-going and playful Claude of the Leicester Alliance who always seems to be planning something more sinister and malicious than his devil may care attitude shows. These 3 heirs all go to the same military academy at the Garreg Mach Monastery, both a religious and military center where the church resides. Together they enjoy school life, interact with students and classmates, compete in friendly competition, and learn the ways of war together. However, as political events, social changes, and possible wars erupting, the three friends are tested and eventually break part, now pointing their blades at each other for their own beliefs and goals. And as violence is all but certain as the years tick by, all the three can do is wait until they’re forced to kill each other for their beliefs, their goals, and their countries.

You play as none of these characters.

Instead, you play as Byleth, a new professor at the academy and former mercenary. You choose one of the Three Houses to teach and become wrapped up in their machinations as the plot thickens. How you train your students and ready them for the real world for the trials to come is all in your hands.

So... with that all said and the plot laid out, I think I should start with my issues first in the say way I did my quick thoughts. Just so I can at least end this on a good note after all my nitpicks and issues.

With that said, I’m going to start small and first cover...

Things That Only Annoy Allen

So last time I tried to write this I had to make my first “small” grievance into it’s own part. I’ll try and keep this short since I really want to keep this to the actual small stuff:

I don’t like Byleth’s female design. I’ll go into detail later but for now just know the lacy stockings are distracting for the wrong reasons.

There’s no female brawling class and it bugs me greatly due to Petra’s and Ingrid’s high speed growths. They could be some extremely high DPS infantry in the right hands with those things, but there’s no really class to take advantage of that aside from maybe Swordmaster.

More for story reasons than anything, I wish there was an in-game limit to how many students you could have join your class. About 3 students per House if I had to put a number on it for reasons I’ll explain later. This isn’t an issue, but it’s something I’d like.

Magic only being accessible for certain classes bugs me. I understand the in-game reason for this as a physical unit that could use some emergency (if very weak) magic after losing weapons or fighting armored units would honestly break the game even further than it can be now, but still.

Something I might mention later, but after watching a Blue Lions playthrough by one of my favorite Let’s Players I feel that the game should had limited which House we could join first, as my Black Eagles playthrough would had been more fulfilling learning of some things I’ve learned in that Blue Lions run.

Class mastery should be tied to levels instead of as a separate experience bar. I understand why that’s done, mostly keep people from really min-maxing classes and abilities, but it’s still annoying in terms of optimization.

Edelgard, the only female lord, is the only bisexual lord. Now I’m not in the LGBTQA+ community, but as a gamer and self-proclaimed degenerate I know that denying the yaoi fangirls a male gay option for a main character is... suspicious, given the lovable bisexual rouge of Niles in Fates, and it clear that Claude could had easily been a bisexual option as well given his personality. Again, not in the LGBTQA+ community or trying to play the social justice card, but it is making me raise eyebrows toward the games marketing and aimed demographics.

Byleth in general just... bugs me as a character, but I’ll get to that later.

...

And now it’s later, so let’s get to talking about the main thing that bugs me with Three Houses, and that’s...

Byleth

I don’t like Byleth. I don’t like Byleth at all. I namely don’t like how they were executed, but the fact that we have another avatar character after how well Echoes worked as a story without a self-insert character, I’m just... baffled. I’ll try and break this down a little.

Byleth’s Design

I really don’t Byleth’s design, namely the female design. The male version looks fine, if a little too black for my tastes, but the female version is trying way too hard to look sexy. This only makes me mad because both Awakening and Fates had female avatars that didn’t look overly sexy or obviously pandering to the male gaze. They were just the female version of the male version’s outfit. Maybe there was some more boobs and hips because female, but it was mostly forgivable.

And look, I’m not prude, far from it. Senran Kagura is one of my favorite video game series (cautiously hyped about Yumi being in Cross Tag BTW). Rumble Roses is a guilty pleasure I play every so often. One of my favorite anime is freaking Koihime, aka ‘Ikkitousen but better EVERYONE is a girl.’ I’m not saying you can’t have a sexy character or a bunch of sexy characters in a game or piece of media. However, that character should at least have a sexy personality to go with it. And with Byleth, who has the personality of cardboard has been with her mercenary father all her life fighting for her life, it doesn’t feel like she would actively be trying to look sexy since she doesn’t have the personality for it, or a personality at all. She looks less like a mercenary or teacher and more like Manuela forced her into some lacy stockings to make her branch out...

Huh, that would be a good paralogue/support conversation, but I’m not about to rewrite the game just for my satisfaction... yet.

If you want my quick armchair redesign ideas in terms of design I’d just stick her in Male Byleth’s armor, maybe have a more pronounced/noticeable skirt instead of a long shirt, and dear God get rid of those lacy stockings. Byleth is suppose to be a mercenary that’s only known battle with her father, the Ashen Demon that rarely shows their emotions, not a sexy fashion model. The Enlightened One model is it’s own mess, but this section ate up enough of my time already so I’m moving on.

Byleth’s Personality

Again, Byleth having the personality of a damn rock really kills my attachment to the character. They don’t speak or emote beyond generic level up phrases and crit quotes.

Which is a shame because Byleth has some really good crit quotes.

However, from what Jeralt and other students say about Byleth I can gather that their someone that’s often quiet and standoffish. They don’t speak unless prompted to or needs to interject. They tend to observe more than act, even more so after they gain the ability to rewind time, but have a razor-sharp and deadly focus when in combat. And despite their distant nature, they do care about their students, friends, and family quite a lot, willing to break the emotionless Ashen Demon persona to crack a smile even now and then, even completely showing deadpan shock when something surprising or appalling is said, as rare as it happens.

This is literally Yu Narukami’s personality in Persona 4 the Animation.

And that anime not only gave Yu Narukami more agency and personality than the self-insert the game made him out as, it also gave him a lot of a good back-and-forth with his friends and cast at large.

youtube

Seriously, this could had been Byleth if they bothered to let them speak and actively interact more independently, and it would had been great.

But that aside, I’m moving on to something a little more important, which is...

Byleth’s Importance

[Spoilers for the Black Eagles Route Ahead]

Again, I’ve only played the Black Eagle’s route, so maybe this changes in the other Houses, but Byleth seems way too important for his own good when we have 3 other “main” characters. He’s the crux of a lot of events and it doesn’t feel deserved or built up to well enough. In the Black Eagle’s path, you’re the one that convinces the class to work with Edelgard instead of Edelgard just explaining herself before the class of her goals. You’re the one leading the Black Eagle Strike Force instead of Edelgard or Hubert taking command and leading after years of not having the professor around and having to survive the war on their own. You’re the one that Rhea has a personal vengeance for instead of the woman that torn the church apart with both words of steel and blades of iron. And you just randomly find out that your the progenitor god from Edelgard and Hubert toward the very end. It feels really anti-climactic, but I also get the feeling that we were suppose to play Edelgard’s route last, something I’ll save for later.

Among other things, I just feel that the focus on Byleth stagnants Edelgard’s character a lot. I want to see Edelgard struggle with the fact that her ideals, while noble in concept, are dragging the world in the flames of war and that she’s seen more as a tyrant than a savior, but instead we focus on Byleth’s mysterious birth and power after being gone for five years. This game, at least on the Black Eagle route, was so damn close to telling a really good war drama, but backpedals due to Byleth’s existence and perceived importance.

Sothis

[Spoilers for Mid-Game Ahead]

I wish she was more active in the story. Nothing too big, but if I had to deal with emotionless rock that is Byleth, I’d like to have seen Sothis sprinkling her commentary on everything they did. Just imagine Sothis sassing Byleth about how their always eat lunch with their students. Her commenting on the fish they catch. Her giving additional small hints about who owns certain lost items after failing so many times to give the right item to someone. Her sassing every student in their support with Byleth on C-rank. Her telling you to go to sleep when you run out of activity points. It’d add a lot to her character and it’d make the moment later in the game when you no longer have her voice around feel more impactful. Imagine catching a big fish after fusing with her and... hearing nothing about it how big a catch it was. Imagine trying to give Ingrid a lost sword for the fifth time, hoping to hear a hint from Sothis and... you hear nothing.

Again, just an armchair idea, but at least that way when Byleth is being a plank of wood we’ll have Sothis to add some literal flavor text to everything they do.

Ah, but that’s enough about Byleth, let’s move on to something a little more important. Like...

The Gameplay

Thankfully, my issue with the gameplay are more nitpicks if anything, and I can actually have this in list form too.

As I mentioned in my quick thoughts, I feel like late-game/master classes are more of a pain to gain than most others. A lot of them need to have some heavy grinding in a stat you didn’t likely need to worry about before. Mortal Savant requires you to heavily grind either a physical class in magic or a magical class in swords, something that you likely didn’t do. Speaking of magic, it’s annoying that for all the customization in this game only certain classes can use magic. It makes raising a Mortal Savant or a more physical Holy/Dark Knight a nightmare. Again, I understand why this was done, but it’s annoying all the same.

Gender-restrictions, as I also said in my Quick Thoughts, are just dumb. Fates had removed this and it was great to have the freedom to give my male units the ability to become Falcon Knights, or my Female units to be... Okay, I only played Fates and Echoes, but the fact still remains that not being able to make a female Grappler/War Master or a male Falcon Knight really sucks and limits me quite a bit. Especially the inability to make Lysithea a Dark Mage. It’s practically wrong.

A lot of these maps have the same issue that Echoes had. They’re big and have a lot of enemies, but not much creativity to them. Okay, they have some thought put into them, more than Echoes anyway, but a lot of them still just feel like big fields that need at least three flying units to be manageable. Again, I’ve only played the Black Eagle route so there might be some more interesting maps in the other routes, but from what I’ve played there was no real strategy to these maps outside of baiting enemies and maneuvering around traps. I think there were probably only two maps that weren’t giant mazes or an empty field with a lot of enemies in them.

To the point above, this made slow moving armored classes almost completely useless. What point is there in having a slow tank on maps that span to what feels like 60X60 tile maps? Plus the maze-like design? Yeah, I don’t know how these maps were meant to be interesting.

And that’s it for gameplay issues. Moving on to...

The Story

Again, something that can be put into list form due to the story having more nitpicks than actual issues:

[Spoilers for Black Eagles Route Ahead]

The split decision to join Edelgard or not is dumb, as is the requirement to have the option available. I think it’s foolish to think we wouldn’t agree with her after listening to her manifesto for so long, especially if you played a Blue Lions route and seeing how Sylvain and Ingrid were screwed over due to their Crests, or just... Lysithea’s background in general. I can’t argue with her beliefs, only her execution.

The Flame Emperor reveal was... really anti-climatic. As if, again, they assumed we’d do Black Eagles last. Playing this route first just leads to a lot of anti-climatic reveals, especially on Edelgard’s route.

I just really wish Edelgard came clean with her classmates and commanders at some point in the story, to just tell them all that she was experimented on as a child and had two Crests as a result. That she wants to eliminate the nobility and Crests as a symbol of statu because of the harm it does to people both on top and on the bottom of the social food chain. It’d give a lot more weight to her cause.

Again, most of my issues with the story come from Byleth having too much screen time and importance compared to Edelgard as a whole. Especially when I did the route where I chose to go with her.

Alright, I think that’s it for all of my nitpicks, all the major ones anyway. I think I finally move to...

The Good Things

Again, this will be in list form since a lot of the nicer parts about this game don’t need as much breakdown as the bad parts.

But anyway...

As much as I don’t find the late game reward in terms of class advancement, the mid and early game are great for experimentation. I've had a bunch of fun on my second playthrough with some creative builds. I might suffer a little in the late game due to not optimizing everything, but that’s managable.

As I also stated in my quick thoughts, dismounting is hilariously broken. The amazing amount of utility you get from being about to dismount once you reach a destination and then mount at the start of the new turn for free while also being safe from arrows and horse-effective weapons is hysterical. I honestly think this was a bug that just didn’t patch and that dismounting meant you were stuck with the lower movement for the rest of the turn, but God am I going to use it until they eventually patch it out.

I’ve got... issues with the Black Eagle route, at least the route I went through, but I’ve been watching a playthrough of the Blue Lions route and it’s everything I could have wanted in a Fire Emblem game and more. If you want to play a good story I recommend the Blue Lions as your first route.

But to cut the Black Eagles route some credit, a lot of Edelgard and Hubert’s A-Supports were probably some of the best I’ve seen in the series... though I’ve only played Fates and Echoes, so...

Speaking of supports all of them were done very well. Like I said, Edelgard and Hubert had great supports, but Lysithea, Petra, Caspar, and Dorothea had great supports as well.

A lot of the supports and voice acting are great. It’s a key reason as to why I like the supports so much. The Lords are especially great to hear and were directed well.

And... yeah, that’s all the good things. Don’t let the short length fool you, folks. Like I said before, my issues are more nitpicks. The game as a whole is just fine.

That said...

In the Future

As much as I want to, even as a fun little project, I think it’s a little arrogant of me to be making any rewrites or “improvement” to the current story of Three Houses. I have various reasons for this that I might go into depth to in a later Rambling, but the short version is as someone that’s struggle to write their own story I feel like a hypocrite for trying to “correct” another’s. However, I think it’s far game to make requests and bring forth ideas for a future title, especially since this one is selling so well. And so, before concluding I’d like to present a few things I hope to be in the next Fire Emblem game:

No Avatar Character

Like I said, I feel Byleth’s entire presence can ruin scenes due to his lack of personality and engagement. And as easy as it would be to give him one that would also mean the play losing their use self-insert character. To this I say it’s probably best to just not have an avatar/self-insert character to begin with. You can easily make a character that has the stats of an above-average all-rounder as your main character/lord while still having a personality. I think Echoes did this well enough with Alm and Celica, especially Celica if we’re talking stats and utility as a healer/magic/swordsman hybrid.

No Gender-Locked Classes

This is more of a personal desire than something that needs to happen, but if the next Fire Emblem game is going to give us this much customization then I’d really like to have complete control and not be restricted by gender, especially when we’re talking stats. A War Master Hilda would be wild. As would a Hero Petra, a Gremory Linhardt, a Dark Mage Lythesia, and so on. To restrict us is not only screwing people who want to make quirky builds, but also those that want to make optimal builds. Either remove the gender lock, or have these characters with more straight-forward classes like in Fates.

One/Limited Routes

Again, I haven’t played Blue Lions or Golden Deer yet, but the Black Eagles route had a branching path that I honestly think shouldn’t have existed. Maybe this was for reasons I can only guess at, but the story of the Black Eagles Route I was on felt very rushed, or at least it assumed I had played either the other Houses or the “canon” Black Eagles route first. That left the actual story, while I personally found engaging, very rushed and underwhelming at the end. In the future I’m hoping for either one path, or for alternate paths to be locked until you complete the other “main” ones that give a fuller story, because a lot of what I’m seeing in the Blue Lions playthrough I’m watching would had been nice to learn in the Black Eagles route to see Edelgards view of things.

Smaller Maps

Like I said, the maps in Three Houses are a little too large, especially with slower armored/magic units in the early game with only 4 movement. In the next game I’m hoping for either smaller maps or at least maps that accommodate for that slow movement of early game and saving the bigger maps for when you’d naturally have some cavalry and infantry units with 5 movement. I think Fates’ Conquest and Revelations maps did this perfectly.

Brawling Weapons

No real critique here. I just really like the gauntlets and I hope they come back in the next game.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Three Houses is a good game, despite all my nitpicks. I hope the next game will be even better and hopefully have some of the things I want to see. I recommend this for anyone with a Switch wanting to play a decent strategy game.

Anyway, I got a draft to make on that story I’m writing, as well as draft up another Rambling. See you all later!

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #your dictator is speaking

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anonarat · 5 years

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Decided to spend my afternoon reading and watching anime, something I haven’t had much time to do because Three Houses. Finishing a route seemed like a good break point, so without further ado, Golden Deer Part Two (Characters):

Claude: I’m less enamoured with him than I thought I’d be, and he was why I chose Golden Deer second. For all that he’s a ‘schemer’ it always felt like tell, don’t show as I mentioned in the previous section. Sure, he’s likeable enough, but I really feel as though his trying to unite everyone feels kinda... trite maybe? Compared with the Tellius games from early on you know a Branded and the Laguz. You have them as units and learn a good deal about them. Stopping the racism there feels earned because you can see the struggles that they face. Meanwhile we don’t get anywhere near enough depth to the various foreign people to Fodlan for it to come across as a more surface level Racism is Bad. (Which it is, but without the context it’s not as impactful or meaningful)

Honestly, both of Claude’s designs are pretty solid, although the post-time skip beard is not my cup of tea.

As a unit, he’s good. Not great, but good. He could probably done with a bit more oomph as his unique class, especially getting Bow Range +1 or +2. If he wasn’t a lord, I may have searched up a replacement, or maybe I should have gotten him into being a Bow Knight.

Hilda: While I’m not too much of a fan of Hilda’s look cute and praise people to do things for her, she does have some really good supports. As the seconds of the Houses go, she doesn’t really feel as though she fits that archetype too well. And also she wanted weeds as supplies so I don’t know what goes into that head of hers. I’ll also add that I now ship Hilda/Annette, because of their B Support.

I’m not a massive fan of the twin-tails look, but Hilda pulls it off better than most. I think I prefer her post-time skip look, although it would have been improved by having the black fabric be solid all the way up to her neck instead of leaving the window for cleavage.

It’s not often that you get good full physical defence tanks. What I mean is she took so many 0 or 1 damage hits towards the end of the campaign. It meant that she solo killed a monster over the course of a few turns. Give her her sacred weapon and Hauteclere and she can go toe-to-toe with almost anything. Even an Iron Axe+ does wonders with her.

Raphael: I’m going to get this out of the way. I do not like the jock with a heart of gold and a big appetite archetype. At all. It’s possibly my least favourite archetype of all the archetypes in the game. I do not like Raphael. He did nothing to convince me to use him, or that his supports were worth seeing.

The shirt bulging at the buttons is overused, and doesn’t really have a suitable place in this sort of game. Post-time skip just makes me think of the aforementioned archetype.

I ditched him as soon as I could. He’s destined to go through the heavy armour route, and that helps to make him useless. Plus I don’t like him. (Sorry to anyone who likes Raphael, I respect your opinion, but I do not share it.)

Ignatz: I’ll also get this one out of the way (and there’s another still to come). Ignatz feels like a worse Bernadetta. There is a lot of overlap between them, including their interests. But where Bernadetta’s early supports take things to illogical, comedic extremes, Ignatz doesn’t get any of that to soften the more irritating aspects of the archetype. Post-time skip, Ignatz doesn’t show anywhere near Bernadetta’s level of growth.

The post-time skip design is definitely my preferred one for Ignatz, looking a bit more mature. The coloured feather is also a nice bit of design to help add some flavour to him.

I needed a thief, so Ignatz became my thief. That’s about all. He ended up bouncing between Assassin for lock touch and Mortal Savant, but never really excelling in either. It felt like I had to do a lot of babying for him to be half way decent.

Marianne: The last of my negative opinions. Again, for the pre-time skip, I kinda felt as though she was another worse Bernie. The time skip helped, but not enough to really elevate her as a character. I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t need the added gloom in my life.

Again, another couple of solid designs that help to sell the character. That said... both of them just feel really similar to me, or maybe it’s just the body language of the model.

She is your primary healer, and therefore is good. She was also my dancer, and therefore was good. Most of her healing duties were taken over by my three main off-healers. Never became stellar though. Props for her paralogue being nails hard though.

Lorenz: Initially I disliked him in the way he was meant to be disliked, but his supports really helped out. Lorenz believes in the ideal of nobility, and holds himself to that ideal, and believes the world runs to that ideal. The time skip is sort of necessary for getting access to those higher level supports, and that’s where the better parts of the character shine through. It feels intentional, and I can’t really fault them for it.

I kinda want to punch his pre-time skip face. Which again, I think is the point. Post time-skip... his hair is amazing, the armour is mostly cool, but I really, really wish it didn’t have that rose.

He ended up as a Dark Knight. Another character who just about scraped by with a little babying. As a House, I think the Golden Deer may be overall the weakest with one significant exception.

Lysithea: Not my favourite character... not really in the running. But she is a very well written, interesting character. While she is skilled, she puts in the study and the hours. And damn it if her solo epilogue didn’t hurt because I knew the result. I’ll admit, one of the reasons I A-supported her with Linhardt in the Black Eagles route was to try and save her from that fate.

I like both of her designs, though I think I prefer her post-time skip one a little more. Having said that, she really could have done without the weird hair-veil thing, but otherwise, solid design.

She was a gremory. She had Thyrsus. She made the Death Knight cry. Her magic and speed growths turn her into a monster. She’s probably in the conversation for best unit, including Byleth, if she learned Physic and/or Fortify, she would almost certainly hold that position.

Leonie: Another character who’s not really in the running for being a favourite character, but is well written. All too often I’d find this sort of character annoying, but generally this was kept to a minimum, and she had some good moments. Having said that... her A+ support with Lorenz feels like someone just kicked her character development back a few notches. Kinda makes me glad that it didn’t work out.

This is an interesting one. I like her models, both pre and post time skip, but I really don’t like her portraits. The pre-time skip one feels too... rounded, and the post-time skip one kinda feels arrogant. Yeah, she just needs better portraits.

She ended up as a pretty decent bow knight, only falling to Adjutant in the last few levels.

#Anonarat plays FE:3H #Fire Emblem: Three Houses #Fire Emblem: Three Houses Spoilers #Fire Emblem #Golden Deer

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burnouts3s3 · 5 years

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Publisher: Nintendo Entertainment Developer: Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo Games Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 59.99 USD How much I paid: 59.99 USD Rated: T for Teen due to Blood, Suggestive Themes and Violence. Can I play offline: Yes How long I played: 128 Hours to go through all 4 story routes while watching the (skippable) cutscenes. Microtransactions: 24.99 USD for an Expansion Pass, a digital license that allows downloading additional future content for the game. What I played on: My Nintendo Switch Dual Audio: Yes. Both English and Japanese voices are available. Notable Localization Changes: Certain lines were rewritten. Petra, a foreigner from a different land, speaks more like Borat than anything else. Dorothea used innuendos that have been written out. Performance Issues: The game runs well enough, for the most part. I noticed a lot of soft textures and pixilation when the game was in docked mode. In handheld mode, I noticed quite a few dips in framerate. In game movies tend to look choppy and stilted in docked mode. While in the Monastery, I waited at multiple loading screens, certain characters will not pop up until after a few seconds and certain doors into other areas take a couple of seconds to open. Can I play without 2 Joy-con controllers?: No, both controllers are required. My Personal Biases: I’ve been a fan of Fire Emblem since someone recommended me Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS. So far, I’ve enjoyed the modern titles for the work such as Awakening and Fates. I bought Shadows of Valentia, but haven’t gotten around to finishing it. I never played Fire Emblem: Warriors. My Verdict: Trying to make the jump from handheld to console while retaining all the key elements is a bit of an uphill battle for Fire Emblem. While the core mechanic still remains charming, the open world exploration aspect and calendar system don’t exactly mesh well. Still, give it a shot. Buy it. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, A Review

After much waiting and the inevitable spin-offs into mobile and musou territory, Fire Emblem finally releases its latest iteration. This time, it comes to the console, the Nintendo Switch. Will Fire Emblem manage to retain the charm it had on portable devices? Let’s find out in this review of “Fire Emblem: Three Houses”! You play the role of “The Professor”, child of the mercenary, Jeralt and newest member of the Church of Seiros. Under the guidance of the Archbishop, Lady Rhea, the Church of Serios guides the land of Fodlan through an age of prosperity. There you can pick between the Three Houses and will teach one of them: Future Empress Edelgard and the Black Ravens, Future King Dimitri and the Blue Lions or Future Duke Claude and the Golden Deer. However, things are far from peaceful as a new threat emerges to shake up the church. While tutoring your students, you must also uncover the mystery surrounding the land and how best to resolve it. Certain elements for previous Fire Emblem titles had to be stripped when making the jump from handheld to console that’s sort of a handheld. The extensive character customization found in Awakening and Fates is gone, as players are limited to playing a male or female avatar. The game’s key feature, support conversations, is still there. Earn enough Support with a student will unlock a conversation with them. You can either talk to them while exploring the monastery or they’ll call you on a free day to celebrate. However, you can only unlock the S Rank / Romance ending by completing the main storyline and getting an epilogue. You cannot just grind support levels and unlock the endings before completing the main campaign like in previous titles. The Three Houses have individual storylines and the leaders of each house have different goals. Edelgard has ambitions and will stop at nothing to achieve them, Dimitri has regrets about the deaths he’s witnessed and it’s changed him and Claude is trying to keep the peace while breaking down the borders. One of the cooler aspects of the game is to recruit or ‘poach’ characters from different houses. If you level up your MC with enough of a stat and Combat Skill, you can recruit another character that’s usually exclusive to another House and into your own. For example, if you have at least 15 Strength and a C rank in Bow skills, you can recruit Bernadetta, a unit usually exclusive to the Black Eagles, into any House you want. However, because of the nature of the game and the branching paths, you will not be able to poach the House Leaders and their bodyguards. For example, no matter how high your stats or combat skills, Edelgard and her loyal friend, Hubert, cannot be recruited to any House other than the Black Eagles. The unit characters themselves are basic stock types: the loyal servant, the shy girl, the loudmouth, anime Edna Krabappel, the big eater, etc. Granted, Fire Emblem always played it fast and loose with stock types but I enjoyed the batch this time around. It also helps that in conversations with other characters, the units have interesting chemistry, as in Petra realizing Caspar’s father killed her father in a previous war, but is willing to look past that or Dorothea, who was born a commoner, putting Lorenz, a snobby noble, in his place. The feature I was missing the most was the ability to have S class conversations between other members besides the Main Character. In Awakening and Fates, you could have romantic pairings and those pairings would produce new units, a child, to fight alongside them. However, since that feature is gone, you’re stuck with one person. The “A” Rank is considered the romance and will affect the ending titles. Since I achieved the A rank between multiple NPCs with one another, they’re automatically assigned with certain characters. (What’s interesting is that certain A ranks offer platonic endings. I was completely shocked to find an ending where Leonie and Shamir join up in an ending together to form a mercenary group as buddies). I miss seeing different characters romance one another and how said romance would affect a new unit. For example, I liked the Donnel and Maribelle pairing in Fire Emblem: Awakening and seeing their child, Brady, join the fray. So while NPCs romancing each other is still there, the child units are not there (or may possibly appear in a future DLC, but I doubt it). Of the Four Routes, I found the Blue Lions and Dimitri’s the most ‘complete’ or the most scripted and detailed of the bunch. The other routes are fine, (Edelgard and the Black Eagles is pretty interesting), but the Blue Lions route seems like the one done first or the one most detailed. New to the franchise are the use of battalions, troops that can be assigned to units to give benefits. Some battalions can attack without being countered and inflict status effects such as poison or no movement. Other battalions can heal nearby units or give them more mobility. Best of all, units with battalions grouped together can ‘join up’ and unleash a stronger attack. However, certain battalions can only be assigned to specific movement types. So only Pegasus troops can be assigned to Flying units. By upgrading a new combat skill, Authority, Units can access higher levels of Battalions that deal more damage. Be careful. If your unit takes too much damage, Battalions will retreat and you’ll have to replenish them with Gold. Also new to the franchise, Epic Beasts, large monsters that take up multiple squares, multiple health bars and have armor. While your troops do reduced damage, you can ‘break’ the armor, exposing a weak point and allows other characters to deal additional damage to the monster. The game introduces an open world element, in which your character runs around the Monastery and helps NPCs with quests. In the monastery, you can take up quests with award you with Renown. By using Renown, you can repair the statues which grant you bonuses in learning skills. As you complete side quests, help NPCs and complete story missions, you gain Professor Levels which in turn levels up your Activity Levels (the amount of activities you can do in a day) and Battle Levels (how many substantial battles you can do in a day). Higher Activity Levels means you can do more Faculty Training sessions, dining sessions, cooking with specific NPCs and have Tea Parties. Yes, you can have Tea Parties with NPCs to increase their support levels. You select specific topics out of 3 and if you get all three topics correct in a row, you can get a bonus question to answer. This is a great way to increase support with units if you’re tired of grinding in battles. You can also do other tasks such as fish and garden, to earn ingredients to cook with other students to deepen the bond. You can also spend time with students such as eating together, attending choir practice. In addition to teaching your students, you can also level up your own skills by talking with other teachers and getting Faculty training, spending an activity point to earn experience with a certain skill. For example, you can train the faith skill by using faculty training with Manuela and Rhea. To be honest, I found this aspect of the game most tedious. I find fetch quests boring enough without having the story need to rely on them, but running around and looking for individual students to chat up or professors to level up really got on my nerves. Yes, there is a Fast Travel system, but the open world aspect feels wasted on Fetch Quests. The game also introduces a Calendar system, meant to mark time and schedule dates in order to meet with other students. During most weeks, you will do as all professors do and lecture your students to improve their skills, such as sword or axe. You can also assign group tasks for 2 students to pair up and improve their flying, heavy armor or riding skills. By assigning tasks, the students will devote themselves to learning certain weapon or spell skills throughout the week, so you won’t have to grind skills in battle. You can assign them 2 skills to double up or have them focus on one skill to speed up the progress. As the same time, you can spend energy talking to individual students and teaching them skills. But, students must have motivation to increase their learning. Motivation can be earned by answering students’ questions correctly, giving the students correct gifts or lost items or spending time with them by eating together or cooking together. Any unit can pick up any skill and become any class, but certain units are more proficient at certain abilities than others and will level up a skill faster while leveling up other skills at a slower pace. However, some students have ‘budding skills’ where in if you give them enough personal instruction, they can become proficient in the skill. For example, it’s possible for Dorothea to become a Cleric if she puts in enough points in Faith (White Magic). However, she will level up Faith slowly while she’s more proficient in leveling up Reason (Black magic) quickly. It’s clear on the outset that the game wants to discourage grinding, or at the very least, limit it. While you could spam a low Level mission, eventually units stop gaining experience and you’ll have to take a higher level mission or quest. And since missions or quests usually require spending energy, you’ll be limited on how much you can do per day. Paralogues (side stories that flesh out individual characters) return, but because of the calendar system, they must be completed before a certain date or be lost forever. In addition, certain bonds cannot progress until the paralogue has been completed. However, completing paralogues rewards battalions and unique weapons. Even the support conversations cannot advance until past a certain story point and players will be given messages such as “It will take some time for this bond to develop”. On the same coin, should you neglect a support conversation and unlock it after a major turning point in the game, the game will inform you that “you missed the opportunity to deepen this bond”. It’s almost as though Nintendo wants to replicate the SMT: Persona formula but it feels artificial instead of organic. (If I need to spend a whole week lecturing students, why can’t I go explore the Monastery?) The game also alters promoting a unit’s class or role. In previous games, a unit with a high enough level could use an item, an Advanced Seal, to advance to a higher class and gain boosted stats and bonuses. While Seals are still available, units now must pass certification exams, which allow the chance of failure if a Unit’s skill isn’t advanced enough. For example, Dorothea can take a certification exam to become a Warlock at Level 20 with a B rank in Reason (Black Magic), but has a chance to fail because the requirements suggest an A rank. It's possible to waste a Seal on a character who isn’t ready (though anyone with enough sense will just save and reload and grind until said unit passes the exam). After you finish your 1st campaign, you can import your save into New Game Plus and import the renown you put into the Statues. Better yet, you can take the extra renown and purchase class levels, professor levels and support levels you already unlocked in previous playthroughs. You can also use Renown to lower the cost requirements by unlocking support ranks. For example, using renown to unlock the C Rank for Dorothea (that you had to have earned in a previous playthrough) will lower the cost of recruiting her into another house. In terms of Performance, the game runs alright. I noticed a lot of soft textures and pixilation when the game was in docked mode. In handheld mode, I noticed quite a few dips in framerate. In game movies tend to look choppy and stilted in docked mode. While in the Monastery, I waited at multiple loading screens, certain characters will not pop up until after a few seconds and certain doors into other areas take a couple of seconds to open. Granted, I’m willing to overlook less than stellar performance in service of compelling characters and gameplay and Fire Emblem: Three Houses has plenty of that. The English Dub in the game is top notch. Granted, a lot of localization issues occur (Fans tell me that Petra’s lines were altered to make her fit better and some of Dorothea’s innuendos aren’t in the English version), but I enjoyed it for the most part. Many professional voice actors lend a hand here: David Lodge, Erica Mendez, Veronica Taylor and so on. But it’s Tara Platt who steals the show as Edelgard. Dub watchers often accuse Platt of using the same voice in multiple roles, but she really delievers both emotion and variation between switching between an Edelgard before and after the major plot point. JAPANESE VOICES ARE AVAILABLE IF YOU PREFER IT. CAVEAT: I enjoyed Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and was having a good time rerolling characters and chatting up members of my house. However, I couldn’t help but feel the new elements padded out the game instead of adding to it. Along with the lack of avatar customization that Robin and Corrin had, as well as Romantic conversations between non-MC members and the ability to produce child units, I wasn’t as obsessed with this title as I was Fates and Awakening. (Magic feels particularly unbalanced this time around. Where in previous titles, you had to purchase magic, store it in your inventory and it was capable of breaking as all other weapons. Here, it replenishes after every battle and doesn’t even take up inventory space.) And yet, the New Game Plus import, branching paths and the ability to poach characters from opposing Houses kept me engaged much more than I expected it to. Also, I did enjoy having tea time with Edelgard and Dorothea. Verdict: Buy it!

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metalempire · 5 years

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Fire Emblem Three Houses Review: A Great Game Crippled By Squandered Potential

Now that the clickbait title has grabbed ur dick and engaged the hate boner it’s time to sit down and take a look at the newly released Fire Emblem game everyone loves (including me, to an extent, despite what the title says.)

I’ll put the whole thing under a readmore to safeguard from spoilers, save dashboards and for anyone who doesn’t give a shit to just stop reading now at a convenient point. As for mobile users, fuck you, I’m a phone hating old man. Read this on an Apple Refrigerator or die.

The TL:DR version is: Game good overall, but not enough variety and near lazy repetition makes both gameplay and story feel a bit disappointing overall once you play all the routes.

Also you can’t fuck Rodrigue so 0/10 worst game in the series.

Right now I’ll address the good points about the game since I do in fact have heaps of praises to sing it’s just easier to clickbait with negativity of which I do have but the positive bits come first cos I said so.

The gameplay is good Fire Emblem, unlike SoV which was ass don’t @ me, as the kids say. Aside from fog of war and a very occasional desert map there’s not too much unpleasant shit and there’s not really any spam which is great since the past few games were getting guilty of that. The maps are a bit plain in layout but they’re not bad either and the enemy placements, choices, map features and terrain are all nicely put together to make a fairly pleasant experience with each one. There are no desert fort maps surrounded by 5 range archers on all sides. There are no cantors spamming infinite terrors or infinitely spawning faceless reinforcements. The weapon triangle might be absent but the breaker skills have been retooled and brought back to allow you to choose if you feel like opting into it or not on your own end. It allows alot of units and weapons to shine and combined with the class freedom the game gives to allow you the wiggle room to make your own playstyle, so if an entire army of Wyvern Lords if your thing then the game is nothing short of an enabler there. Combat Arts are back and nicely well balanced and feel more useful than in SoV, not to mention gambits being a natural expansion on them, Battalions being a positive this game brings to up the scale of warfare rather than it just being Anime Teens VS The World and adds another combat art not tied to a weapon and nice stat boosts and effects to change how you interact with enemies, such as using Assembly to drag a boss off a heal tile, and so forth. The more options the better, and the game is full of freedoms for you to play around with.

Garreg Mach Monastery is where most of the game takes place and where a good chunk of hours are spent. Being able to train weapon and movement type ranks outside of battle is also great and adds more micromanaging onto a series about alot of micromanaging and helps units keep up with each other, as well as letting you farm your own resources, bond with the gang and do little activities to give you some reprieve between fights. You can tell Koei Tecmo did alot of work on the development of Three Houses since this section of the game reminds me of Dynasty Warriors when you go back to your base and sort things out there and wander around. It also breathes some life into the setting and gives a good sense of permanence to the world and its’ characters.

The world of Fodlan is also a major strong point, there’s lore, backstory, history, politics, a culture and even clashes and divides. It’s the most well realised world in a Fire Emblem game since Jugdral which it clearly has drawn inspiration from and I cannot praise Fodlan enough for being as well realised as a setting as it is, since the characters and exposition really give you a proper impression of how this world functions on social and political levels. The school setting of Garreg Mach is one I was initially iffy about but it fits surprisingly well and definitely grows on you over time since the game does a good job of immersing you in the role of a teacher.

Tying into the world is also Crests, which, when combined with the Ability system, is great, making you pay attention to your characters crests, what they do, how they can benefit you, how you could use them, and to pay attention to enemy bosses and minibosses to see what crests they have, and in turn, pay attention to abilities some more too, to both create your ideal units, and keep an eye out for the same on the enemy team. It’s quite well balanced overall and is a sneaky hint of a possible Genealogy remake on the way someday.

The characters are also wonderful, often three dimensional with their own political views, own social perspectives, quirks, oddities, backstories, character conflicts, relationships, and of course, boatloads of trauma. Watching them all interact with each other and reacting to the story events and getting to know them was an excellent experience in proper character writing and interactions that the series has been starved of thanks to the very hit or miss (mostly miss) characterisation from Fates. The main lords are also incredible, from Edelgard and her dark as fuck backstory and her powerful resolve and willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve her wider scale goals, to Dimitri and his intensely personal conflicts and emotional baggage and his journey of highs and lows, to Claude and his boundless charisma and similarly his own ambitions and dreams all wrapped together in a charming package. The characters are all great and I can’t really find myself with any grievances about them that don’t boil down to wanking off over nitpicks over Hubert’s left testicle being out of place in a cutscene or something daft like that.

The soundtrack is good. Not my favourite one but as always with Fire Emblem it’s good and makes the maps more fun since you can listen to a nice tune while thinking about how to murk the pair of armour knights. My only gripe really is the normal versions of songs all sound better than the in-battle variations they get. I also like that a boss theme or miniboss theme will continue to keep playing on the map itself until you beat that character, so you dont have to dip and dive into chip damaging Lyon to hear The Prince’s Despair anymore.

The overall story is fairly decent, not as bad as Fates’ writing, or the fairly bland writing of some of the past games like Awakening that play it too safe. It’s willing to go in dark directions and focus in worldbuilding with its’ plot. However I do have alot of negatives to say about it by contrast but know that the overall story of the game and its’ many routes is one that I don’t hate, but I certainly feel wasn’t as well handled, especially in the second part of the game, as it should be. On an individual level, each route is decently well paced, aside from Edelgard’s route which is mysteriously 4 chapters shorter than the rest for no discernable reason at present until developer interviews shed light on that. The plot is for the most part decently well executed on an individual level.

Now I’m going to insert a very important opinion of mine. I think a game can have a bad story, or no story at all, and still be great, so long as the gameplay is good, because gameplay is what makes a video game a video game, rather than just a dvd with an interactive menu. A game can have a great story, but if the gameplay is shit, the game suffers as a result, and it needs to play its’ focuses very well in order to redeem that. I try not to put as much important on story if I can’t help it, since I’m playing games for the game part first and foremost.

I bring that up because unlike Fates, where you can ignore the plot and have a good time with it, Three Houses isn’t so merciful, due to how much raw time is spent in cutscenes before, during and after battles, as well as engaging with the story at the monastery too, alot of time in Three Houses is not spent in the gameplay portion, but interacting with the story instead, so I have to place importance on the story because the game is, so I have to put more focus than I usually do on it because the game does by necessity of raw amount of time. Otherwise I honestly wouldn’t mind either way if the story was bad or good.

This is to transition over to the negatives.

For the bits where I’m not tying the gameplay and story together for reasons seen in a bit, understand that I was wary about the removal of the weapon triangle. While I don’t mind how it’s been handled, I still think the game is missing something for not having it since the beginning, and it’s definitely a core aspect I enjoy about the series, since now you can forgo unit variety and planning weapon level ups and just use whatever to win, and that level of freedom can hamper strategy in thinking on a more necessity based level, which in turn has subtle but noticeable effects on difficulty.

The amount of time you spend not doing maps is honestly still jarring. Most of the time in these games if you’re ever spending lots of time between maps, it’s usually to get through a mountain of supports you forgot about, rather than spending alot of your time in cutscenes and doing stuff in a monastery. While I don’t hate it, I find alot of my time is spent not doing the Fire Emblem parts of the Fire Emblem game I’m playing and considering the fact that each route is 18-22 chapters long, compared to most FE games which go more than that typically, and you come to realise that the other stuff is sort of padding to distract from the low chapter count overall.

Now this is where I tie gameplay and story together in terms of the more major flaws to the game and what really held it back for me.

Three Houses has 4 routes, all of which I’ve played; Edelgard’s route, Dimitri’s route, Claude’s route, and the Church route. The big problem here in both story and gameplay is the raw amount of repetition and lack of variation the game has with this. Unlike Fates, where the three routes all featured both unique maps, variations on maps, or if they did share maps, usually put them at different stages in the game, Three Houses doesn’t do that at all. Map variety is something this game is weak in, since paralogues just reuse story maps, and so far, only 2 or 3 maps seem exclusive to paralogues, and even then can be repeated by other paralogues. Worse still, earlier paralogues, like Ingrid and Dorothea’s, can spoil maps later on, and don’t even make sense when you get the context for that location. In every other past FE game, the paralogues all got their own maps. Repeating maps in a single run is already a risky business, but then there’s overall repetition. The first part of the game is exactly the same on all routes, it follows the same story and overall beats, an the only variation is chapter 12, if you’re playing Edelgard’s route, if not, it’s the same for the other 3. And for context, I did Edelgard first, Dimitri second, Claude third and Church last. In hindsight, that was a terrible order, since I basically ended up repeating myself 3 times in a row thinking I was getting something different. When the timeskip hits you expect each route to get different, but only Edelgard’s does. the other 3 routes are all about fighting the Adrestian Empire to save Rhea. That’s it. Dimitri, Claude and the Church routes all follow the same story, and by extension, maps, making you do them all in the same order as each other, with a minor variation here or there like Dimiri getting a chapter to retake Fhirdiad then resuming the static map path. The only difference is in the plot contrivances that don’t come up on the other routes despite following the exact same events to steer you towards a different final boss. Those Who Slither In the Dark are a great example of this. They destroy Fort Merceus only in Claude’s route, and for no reason are barely involved in the fights of the other routes and are never dealt with. They themselves are also wasted villains, with Kronya and Solon shown off once, then killed off in their second appearances, then Thales barely being in the game only to die in Claude’s route. The game sort of forgets about them in the other routes, and, insultingly, they’re fought by Edlegard in her route, but only in the epilogue, rather than having her missing 4 chapters cover that conflict.

Really, the only point to playing a route is to get a different final boss, and to get some different lore in the final chapter. You only learn about Nemesis right at the end of Claude’s route, you only learn Byleth’s origin story at the end of the Church route. Outside of things like that, you’re just playing the same game, same maps, and same story but with different playable characters over and over again with no real variety until right at the very end, which is highly hollow. Edelgard’s route offers the most variation on all this, and yet it’s 4 chapters shorter than the other routes, so you’re either condemned to play the same shit over again, or you barely get any time with the one that’s a bit different. It really sucks since the map variety really is nonexistent. You play the exact same game for 12 chapters, think you’re getting some variety, then just get the same shit as the last run, or, only get a few maps and then you’re done. Either way, the sheer lack of variety in maps and accompanying story really makes the hyped up timeskip feel like a colossal disappointment in hindsight, and when Fates, a 3DS game, has more map and story variety (yes even if that story was awful) than a home console game, then something is deeply flawed about this game.

The pacing is also fairly bad if not close to terrible. At most the game is 22-23 chapters at the most, 18 at the least, and it spends 12 of these on the Academy phase of the game. The game drags its’ feet with the story for the first half, slow burning its’ way along, feeding you hints of lore to come and setting things up and, to be honest, doing a good job at worldbuilding. Then the timeskip happens and the war phase just rushes by at one hell of a fast pace. The maps being the same across them doesn’t help, but pacing can also damage the routes. For example, Verdant Wind builds up to fighting the Agarthans, it builds up to them but only with hints and setup while you’re busy fighting Edelgard, and then once’s that’s done, you have two chapters left, one of which has you fight the Agarthans in one map, beat them, and then have the final battle with Nemesis, which, while the map itself is arguably the best of the 4 and really feels like a final battle, story-wise comes out of fuckin nowhere just to have a cool end to the game. And then there’s Crimson flower, which steamrolls through the game and is definitely missing chapters, with key events like the battle at Gronder just not being there at all. In general the story pacing is just too wonky and every route really needed more chapters to flesh out the conflicts rather than rushing along the most engaging bits of the game.

Also the graphics are kind of weird looking for a 2019 game and some of the cutscenes are animated so stiffly it’s strange to watch. Honestly the visual presentation in Fire Emblem has never really been very good outside of fully rendered cutscenes in previous games like Awakening or Radiant Dawn, but it’s a shame the Switch’s capabilities weren’t fully utilised, especially with some textures, although Warriors with its’ JPEG stone floor in Hoshido Castle is no doubt to blame as well for that influence. That said, it’s not all that big of an issue for this series, and you really don’t notice it as much, just felt the need to address it since it is there and the Switch launched with Breath of the Wild which looks wonderful and then there’s Three Houses looking like it just got out of bed by comparison.

My main issues with the game stem mostly from the larger segment above, the constant repetition of maps in almost perfect order after each other, the exact same story playing out for the majority of what should be different routes, and the school phase being the most repetitive as well really dragging the game down. The first time I played the game I loved it, no doubt, but the subsequent runs made me realise that alot less overall variety was put into the game than I thought would be, and that hurts the quality for me, to know that 3/4 options have me doing 95% the same thing but with different units, and the other option is just a bit too short to be able to fully enjoy what it has to offer. Fire Emblem is a bigger name now than it used to be, and Three Houses honestly deserved to be a bit better than this overall.

Also you can’t fuck Felix’s dad so what’s even the point of it all, really.

I have no doubts though that people will still love this game, and rightfully so, it’s a great entry in the series, just not the best. I’m sure people who’ve only done one or two routes will think it’s fantastic, but once you do all four of them, I think the honeymoon period will pass by, and the initial spark of excitement of a new game will wear off, and just like how everyone tore into Fates a year after release, I think Three Houses might end up suffering a slightly similar fate as well once people realise that the game really doesn’t offer as much variety as it seemed to be offering. Maybe there are people who don’t mind all the repetition and the sameyness of it all, but for me, it held the game back from being truly great. The Lords are what really carry their respective routes, due to their character strengths, and a certain route definitely suffers for only having Byleth (and Seteth of all people) as the main driving force of that route.

All that said, I really recommend any Fire Emblem fan or even any Switch owner to play Three Houses. It’s not perfect, and it certainly loses it’s magic over time and really needs some reworking in places and major injections of variety, or a really good DLC, but it’s still definitely got plenty of good quality to enjoy and the bits that are good are really good and worth sticking through each route to be able to play with.

The score this game gets is a

Forever Pissed I Can’t Marry Rodrigue/10

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #Fire Emblem #FE3H #long post

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