Okay good to know. Put the game down in August after CF and was a little disappointed honestly (story wise), but all the new DLC's made me fall in love with the game again.
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Fire Emblem Three Houses - Cindered Shadows |OT| Counting Is Hard
- Thread starter kuroneko0509
- Start date
Okay good to know. Put the game down in August after CF and was a little disappointed honestly (story wise), but all the new DLC's made me fall in love with the game again.
Well they were supposedly raised to hero status. It makes sense that they were hunted while their lineage was spared (Seiros does like holy justice), but it's still new info.
But what's really weird is how they seem to be "what did we do wrong?"
Which can be interpreted in a number of ways which don't really line up. I mean if they were using relics but weren't the ones who created them, then why kill them? I mean I get the "getting the relics back" part, but there was no point in killing them if they were just given the relics by Nemesis/TWISTED 🤷♀️
But what's really weird is how they seem to be "what did we do wrong?"
Which can be interpreted in a number of ways which don't really line up. I mean if they were using relics but weren't the ones who created them, then why kill them? I mean I get the "getting the relics back" part, but there was no point in killing them if they were just given the relics by Nemesis/TWISTED 🤷♀️
Well:
Three possibilities. Seiros didn't know they didn't know. Seiros didn't care that they didn't know. That one in particular, who may well be Maruice, is the only one who didn't know.
Yeah this is part of why I waited for this DLC before finally starting a CF run. GD->BL was pretty repetitive in the monastery, so it's nice to have a little more variety (especially in part 1.) Hell, if I find myself motivated enough to do a SS run after this they'll help there as well despite the route being a GD copy-paste.
Serios is hunting them down as revenge for drinking the blood of nabetheans to gain the crest. It seems that elite didnt understand where their power came from
Just finished it, my non-spoiler thoughts: I enjoyed it, I really liked the base game already and this was more of it in a different fashion. It had some really neat maps and gimmicks that were fun. Abyss and the Ashen Wolves characters were great, I'm excited to see how this stuff interacts with the main game, I'll probably do a new playthrough on Crimson Flower. I have done all the routes in the main game.
From a gameplay standpoint, I like that this DLC felt more like a puzzle than just throwing your best characters at everything. I still liked the customization in the main game, since there it was about choosing your A-squad, but in this game there's enough slots to use everyone in every mission, and with added restrictions like any Ashen Wolf dying = mission failure, it made things interesting. Granted I'd start over or Divine Pulse back if I lose ANY character. Keeping it limited to 5 Divine Pulse was really good, and I wish the main game was actually that way as well. Every single enemy I saw had the -breaker skills, meaning the weapon triangle was effectively back in this game. It was neat positioning your units playing like the weapon triangle from previous games is in effect. It was also really important to employ things like Pure Water to boost Res.
Overall I liked this DLC, can definitely recommend it. To me it was worth the $25, but I can understand why many would take issue with that price given how short the DLC is.
From a gameplay standpoint, I like that this DLC felt more like a puzzle than just throwing your best characters at everything. I still liked the customization in the main game, since there it was about choosing your A-squad, but in this game there's enough slots to use everyone in every mission, and with added restrictions like any Ashen Wolf dying = mission failure, it made things interesting. Granted I'd start over or Divine Pulse back if I lose ANY character. Keeping it limited to 5 Divine Pulse was really good, and I wish the main game was actually that way as well. Every single enemy I saw had the -breaker skills, meaning the weapon triangle was effectively back in this game. It was neat positioning your units playing like the weapon triangle from previous games is in effect. It was also really important to employ things like Pure Water to boost Res.
First off, the story: I liked it. I did like that it turned out to be more about Byleth's mother, and we even got a name and face for her finally. I did think as soon as I saw Aelfric that he would be the villain, and that ended up being incredibly obvious, but I just didn't know why. I thought it was kind of funny Aelfric was basically the same motivations as Snape from Harry Potter: in love when the protagonist's mother but didn't end up with her romantically but wanted to see her happy regardless.
One thing that slightly disappointed me about this DLC was that Those Who Slither In The Dark wasn't involved at all. I kept hoping that maybe Aelfric was going to be another member of TWSITD, as well as all the cronies you face throughout the game, but nope. I thought surely with a DLC about a group of people that are stuck living underground would SURELY involve them. I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity there to explore more about TWSITD. I mean they're a faction that basically have modern technology including fucking BALLISTIC MISSILES and we don't get to see more of their homeland or origins? I was also surprised how few of the missions actually took place in Abyss. For a place that's supposedly so fast and deep, we really didn't fight much there.
Constance's gimmick of her personality, and skills, completely changing whether in sunlight or not was really neat. I love that they keep this up in the battles. Hapi's gimmick about sighing and summoning monsters, I kind of wish actually had some gameplay application other than when it was used as part of the story, but I"m not sure how they would balance something like that. Foul Play from Yuri is a REALLY GOOD skill, to the point where I mostly used him for that and didn't use him in combat all that much. He's incredibly good at evasion, so even with low damage and decent crit, he could take out the Aelfrics on the final map. Balthus was a neat new idea for a class, equipped with high resistance. I was surprised there was no relic gauntlet (at least that I ever found) in the main game, so his was the first one we were introduced to. Using him to heal seemed to be very much an afterthought though, but I guess at that point it's just for topping off people.
For some of the maps, I was hoping there would be more that were brand new and not reused maps from the main game. The area where the Chalice was was a copy/paste of one of the maps in the main game with a new coat of paint. The Holy Mausoleum was reused, and so was the Chapel. However I liked the Cathedral being used as a battle map for the final map. It was small and had a very "raid boss" feel to it.
I liked the gimmicks of the final boss. It feels like a raid boss that you have to surround, coordinate your gambits to smash the shield, and then continue to deal damage while keeping your units alive, and taking out the Aelfrics that spawn. The shuffling around the room was a neat mechanic and makes you adapt, but also capitalize on the advantage when it's there. Sometimes you can't get too greedy though, and let the Aelfrics stick around too long.
I'm really curious to see in my second Crimson Flower playthrough if Edelgard will have any opinion on the Ashen Wolves, but I kind of doubt she will talk about it specifically outside of supports. I was wondering the whole time if she was trying to keep up a facade there or was legitimately concerned about the Ashen Wolves. My inclination is that she had issues with them being stuck in Abyss, which was of the church's doing.
The lack of Sothis in this DLC was really bizarre. She hasn't merged with Byleth at this point in the main story, so why does she just not show up at all?
Also, please only give me a yes or no to this question: Hapi mentions being captured by someone and experimented on, and they are presumably Those Who Slither In The Dark. However, Edelgard and Lysithea had the same thing happen to them, does it ever get explained in supports or somehow in the main game why Hapi's hair didn't turn white? They just kind of said that detail and left it.
I highly doubt there is more DLC coming, but if they do have any more, I really want to see one focused on Those Who Slither In the Dark, maybe make it a story that takes place in the past about a group of people that were captured by them and experimented on escaping, or something like that.
One thing that slightly disappointed me about this DLC was that Those Who Slither In The Dark wasn't involved at all. I kept hoping that maybe Aelfric was going to be another member of TWSITD, as well as all the cronies you face throughout the game, but nope. I thought surely with a DLC about a group of people that are stuck living underground would SURELY involve them. I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity there to explore more about TWSITD. I mean they're a faction that basically have modern technology including fucking BALLISTIC MISSILES and we don't get to see more of their homeland or origins? I was also surprised how few of the missions actually took place in Abyss. For a place that's supposedly so fast and deep, we really didn't fight much there.
Constance's gimmick of her personality, and skills, completely changing whether in sunlight or not was really neat. I love that they keep this up in the battles. Hapi's gimmick about sighing and summoning monsters, I kind of wish actually had some gameplay application other than when it was used as part of the story, but I"m not sure how they would balance something like that. Foul Play from Yuri is a REALLY GOOD skill, to the point where I mostly used him for that and didn't use him in combat all that much. He's incredibly good at evasion, so even with low damage and decent crit, he could take out the Aelfrics on the final map. Balthus was a neat new idea for a class, equipped with high resistance. I was surprised there was no relic gauntlet (at least that I ever found) in the main game, so his was the first one we were introduced to. Using him to heal seemed to be very much an afterthought though, but I guess at that point it's just for topping off people.
For some of the maps, I was hoping there would be more that were brand new and not reused maps from the main game. The area where the Chalice was was a copy/paste of one of the maps in the main game with a new coat of paint. The Holy Mausoleum was reused, and so was the Chapel. However I liked the Cathedral being used as a battle map for the final map. It was small and had a very "raid boss" feel to it.
I liked the gimmicks of the final boss. It feels like a raid boss that you have to surround, coordinate your gambits to smash the shield, and then continue to deal damage while keeping your units alive, and taking out the Aelfrics that spawn. The shuffling around the room was a neat mechanic and makes you adapt, but also capitalize on the advantage when it's there. Sometimes you can't get too greedy though, and let the Aelfrics stick around too long.
I'm really curious to see in my second Crimson Flower playthrough if Edelgard will have any opinion on the Ashen Wolves, but I kind of doubt she will talk about it specifically outside of supports. I was wondering the whole time if she was trying to keep up a facade there or was legitimately concerned about the Ashen Wolves. My inclination is that she had issues with them being stuck in Abyss, which was of the church's doing.
The lack of Sothis in this DLC was really bizarre. She hasn't merged with Byleth at this point in the main story, so why does she just not show up at all?
Also, please only give me a yes or no to this question: Hapi mentions being captured by someone and experimented on, and they are presumably Those Who Slither In The Dark. However, Edelgard and Lysithea had the same thing happen to them, does it ever get explained in supports or somehow in the main game why Hapi's hair didn't turn white? They just kind of said that detail and left it.
I highly doubt there is more DLC coming, but if they do have any more, I really want to see one focused on Those Who Slither In the Dark, maybe make it a story that takes place in the past about a group of people that were captured by them and experimented on escaping, or something like that.
Overall I liked this DLC, can definitely recommend it. To me it was worth the $25, but I can understand why many would take issue with that price given how short the DLC is.
Re: hapi
iirc yes, though at this point i cant remember if they specifically mention it or you have to infer it, but..
Hapi's hair not turning white is consistent with what we know from the main game about why someone's hair would turn white.
Hapi's hair not turning white is consistent with what we know from the main game about why someone's hair would turn white.
Just beat it! Hard/classic. Took me 18 hours, I guess I'm just a really slow/cautious Fire Emblem player.
Overall I really enjoyed it! These are probably the most interesting and well balanced fights in the game, and it feels like the subtleties of the game's mechanics matter a lot more in them. The fourth battle and the final battle were my favorites, both surprisingly fun.
Storywise it was just what I wanted. A nice side story, some good lore bits, but not something that's going to really impact the main story. Which is a good thing I think.
Overall I really enjoyed it! These are probably the most interesting and well balanced fights in the game, and it feels like the subtleties of the game's mechanics matter a lot more in them. The fourth battle and the final battle were my favorites, both surprisingly fun.
Storywise it was just what I wanted. A nice side story, some good lore bits, but not something that's going to really impact the main story. Which is a good thing I think.
The weird part for me is what their situation was in the first place. Seiros going on a rampage is not unexpected.
But why do they seem surprised they're being hunted? I mean that seems to imply they didn't see their deeds as problematic, whatever those deeds were.
Of course it's possible it was only one Elite which was different, but that'd be weird to put such a specific nebulous snippet as a new bonus info.
But why do they seem surprised they're being hunted? I mean that seems to imply they didn't see their deeds as problematic, whatever those deeds were.
Of course it's possible it was only one Elite which was different, but that'd be weird to put such a specific nebulous snippet as a new bonus info.
Edit:
Not having full understanding is one thing, but drinking blood should raise suspicions at least. Unless they were tricked into it so that they didn't even know they were ingesting dragon blood?
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Re: Hapi:
As far as I can tell she had her crest at birth, so why she was experimented on was different. Lys and Edel lost their hair color because they were implanted with a crest, as far as I can remember.
Firstly: I wouldn't call killing the ten people who drank the blood and desecrated the corpses of your genocided people then lead an conquering army against you "going on a rampage". Given that she's expressly sparing their people and their families, quite the opposite in fact. Killing the enemy generals is pretty standard war tactics.
Secondly, I just said why: Because they, or at least the one writing the message, didn't know what Nemesis had done to get them the crests, crest stones, and weapons. If it was Maurice it makes sense because he's clearly disconnected from the 10 and Nemesis. If it was any of the other ten, then that means Nemesis committed the Zanado genocide either alone or aided directly by TWSitD before giving the 10 + Maurice their crests, stones, and relics.
EDIT: The blood wasn't necessarily presented to them as blood. Just look at Balthus' B support with Yuri.
Secondly, I just said why: Because they, or at least the one writing the message, didn't know what Nemesis had done to get them the crests, crest stones, and weapons. If it was Maurice it makes sense because he's clearly disconnected from the 10 and Nemesis. If it was any of the other ten, then that means Nemesis committed the Zanado genocide either alone or aided directly by TWSitD before giving the 10 + Maurice their crests, stones, and relics.
EDIT: The blood wasn't necessarily presented to them as blood. Just look at Balthus' B support with Yuri.
Wave 4 is the last portion of the season pass. That does not mean that the game won't receive updates of any sort in the future, but none have been announced.
The Maurice theory is nice, but IIRC he does recognize the Sword of the Creator, so he wasn't disconnected before the Nabatean massacre. How would he know the SofT otherwise? And if he knew after the fact, he'd have a pretty good idea why Seiros hunted him down, unless he really had no idea what the sword was, but from what I recall of the in-battle quotes, he had a fairly good idea of what it was.
I'll reread the text but it didn't seem to be written as a one-off wayward Elite, or he'd have stronger suspicions about what kind of awful deed Nemesis may have done (I mean if he disconnected, that's probably because he saw Nemesis as "bad", and as such should connect the dots more plainly than a simple "was that Nemesis' fault?").
I mean it's obviously just another tidbit of info trying to imply the whole Nemesis war was more of a mess that what Rhea remembers of it.
To put it more simply, if they took an active part in slaughtering the Nabateans, then they should know why Seiros hunted them down.
Even if they were just regular bandits/war criminals/whatever bad guy, they at least should sound more along the lines of "why is a saint going after me?" than the "what did we do wrong?" that seems to be their stance from that text.
So it seems they at least didn't think what they did was wrong.
I'll reread the text but it didn't seem to be written as a one-off wayward Elite, or he'd have stronger suspicions about what kind of awful deed Nemesis may have done (I mean if he disconnected, that's probably because he saw Nemesis as "bad", and as such should connect the dots more plainly than a simple "was that Nemesis' fault?").
I mean it's obviously just another tidbit of info trying to imply the whole Nemesis war was more of a mess that what Rhea remembers of it.
To put it more simply, if they took an active part in slaughtering the Nabateans, then they should know why Seiros hunted them down.
Even if they were just regular bandits/war criminals/whatever bad guy, they at least should sound more along the lines of "why is a saint going after me?" than the "what did we do wrong?" that seems to be their stance from that text.
So it seems they at least didn't think what they did was wrong.
You seem to be ignoring me repeatedly pointing out that it's entirely possible that the Zanado massacre was done by Nemesis and the Argathans without the 10 being there. That they have no idea where their weapons and new powers came from, that it's just magic or technology from their new mysterious benefactors.
Also, it's not a "wayward" Elite. It's written after Nemesis has already been defeated. They've been routed and now Seiros and the Empire are doing the usual clean up that comes after a war and executing the enemy leadership for crimes committed during or preceding the war.
Also, it's not a "wayward" Elite. It's written after Nemesis has already been defeated. They've been routed and now Seiros and the Empire are doing the usual clean up that comes after a war and executing the enemy leadership for crimes committed during or preceding the war.
So, question about chapter 3, in Spoilers:
Honestly, so far i'm very glad i went with Normal difficulty for the DLC. I just know that i would've gotten royally screwed by the stuff that happened so far in the three chapters. I think chapter two has brought me down to the least amount of Divine Pulse left ...
That keystones you need to lock / unlock ... is one of them really the "right" one? Or is the mission designed to make the first two you interact with fail and hit you with a trap, no matter which one you choose?
Honestly, so far i'm very glad i went with Normal difficulty for the DLC. I just know that i would've gotten royally screwed by the stuff that happened so far in the three chapters. I think chapter two has brought me down to the least amount of Divine Pulse left ...
Then that means Seiros hunted them down for a crime they didn't commit. Which means either she didn't care and just wanted to exert violence as a means of revenge, or she really didn't know and that would remind us her information from that time is incomplete.
But the part that bugs me the most is maybe how they seem to be there fighting Seiros in the opening cutscene (they're never really shown but the whole red lights stuff is supposed to be their relics I guess), so that would mean they'd be like "we lost the war, why are they pursuing us?" PLUS "was it something Nemesis did?", which just feels off. I mean they fought against Seiros' army, so unless there was some kind of proper surrender with amnesty (which could be possible but would mean Seiros broke the amnesty), they shouldn't be much surprised their former enemy is tracking them down.
But the part that bugs me the most is maybe how they seem to be there fighting Seiros in the opening cutscene (they're never really shown but the whole red lights stuff is supposed to be their relics I guess), so that would mean they'd be like "we lost the war, why are they pursuing us?" PLUS "was it something Nemesis did?", which just feels off. I mean they fought against Seiros' army, so unless there was some kind of proper surrender with amnesty (which could be possible but would mean Seiros broke the amnesty), they shouldn't be much surprised their former enemy is tracking them down.
As far as I can tell it's always the same which is the "right" one yes.
Question as to how the DLC pertains to the main game:
Was Aelfric (simply as a 'Monk') always in the main game at the cemetery before the DLC? The one who gives you the quest to find flowers to place on Sitri's grave? If so, that's a clever little bit to take a seemingly random and inconsequential NPC and making him the core narrative focus of Cindered Shadows.
What do you guys think some of the best chapters were gameplay wise? I really liked chapter 4 so far (starting chapter 6 today) and there were some close calls. I would love maddening mode in the future with some additional weapon upgrades bc it's a bummer not to be able to upgrade that levin sword for a 3 range Yuri. And speaking of Yuri, he singlehanded saved me multiple times with his Trickster ability. Such a weak but versatile character.
I liked chapter 4 a lot, I think the final boss was pretty good as well.
Dimitri saved me a lot of times, didn't seem like he had many obvious weaknesses like almost everyone else did
I liked all the chapters, to be honest. Chapter 3 was probably the most flawed, in that it has one solution rather than a randomized one, so it's too easy to cheese.
I think they should have made it so that
Also, it was a bit anticlimactic when I cleared the map all of a sudden. Though I did like that I was close to running out of heals and spells near the end so maybe it's good that I could clear it easier than I thought initially.
all the poles had to be triggered along with reinforcements each time instead of a "random" answer.
Pull the switch in the corner of the room
If your talking about the door later on, Yuri can unlock it
If your talking about the door later on, Yuri can unlock it
Iirc there is no key.
Two of your units have locktouch and can open doors without a key. Ashe has it as his personal skill, same as in the blue lion route and Yuri can use it since it comes with the trickster class he defaults as.
Edit: or see the above post if you didn't mean an actual key locked door.
Pull the switch in the corner of the room
If your talking about the door later on, Yuri can unlock it
Oh I see, thank you both
Honestly, I found the side story pretty disappointing. The map designs were pretty solid but the presentation of it and the re-use of so many assets kind of dampened my enjoyment of it a little (seriously, Yuri re-using Lorenz' idle animation looks so damn weird). Presenting so many pivotal moments through an illustration has got to go.
Playing through Blue Lions for the first time now at least, so I'm hoping the Ashen Wolves are properly integrated into the story.
Playing through Blue Lions for the first time now at least, so I'm hoping the Ashen Wolves are properly integrated into the story.
In what way is it bad game design? It's arguably the best map design in the entire game.
Still working my way through this in hard/classic, and it definitely feels harder than the base game. I didn't mop up the third map because I was actually worried about depleting my resources. It's kind of a fun call back to older games like Path of Radiance, where maps are tighter and there's not as much opportunity to beef up your units.
How many maps are there? I heard people saying the DLC was 8-10 hours, but I bet these maps play a lot different depending on your difficulty setting...
How many maps are there? I heard people saying the DLC was 8-10 hours, but I bet these maps play a lot different depending on your difficulty setting...
It took me about 19 hours on hard/casual, as I would keep restarting missions to make various adjustments so none of my characters would die (it was basically like playing it on hard/classic, then).
There's like over two hours of plot on auto advance, and the battles are really long. Even skipping animations and the enemy phase and on Normal battles take me about 30 minutes each.
So anything from like five-ish hours to a dozen hours is within a normal range. Watching animations and playing in Hard skews higher, skipping stuff and playing on Normal skews lower.
The boss doesn't have much way to actually land kills on your group, aside from counterattacks. Immediately break its barrier with Blaze gambits on Turn 2. Have Ashe and Claude sniping the clones from out of their and the boss' range, while others finish them off (my Balthus could one-round them with Vajra-Mushti). Never put anyone who can be one-shot/doubled by the boss in its range (e.g. Hapi).
With the influx of Concoctions, you should be able to last indefinitely, which is good since the boss is somewhat lengthy. The teleportation only does chip damage. Whenever it teleports, it'll be open to attacks without counterattacking. Just be sure whoever's doing the attacking can either sustain a hit on the next turn, or canto out of its range. If a primary damage dealer is too far after teleportation, try to use Yuri's Foul Play.
I used Dmitri to break the monster shield and then canto out of the way, followed by Byleth with a killing edge to do the real damage with the criticals.
Lots of Gambits to break all the shields.
The brawler can kill one of the spawns before they can attack back.
Never let him eat a spawn to heal. So I used Byleth and someone else to kill the second.
Everyone kind of just did their best to keep chipping away at the main boss, Killer (Crit+) weapons help because crits are a MASSIVE help.
Once he's at his last health bar, put everyone on the boss and take its ass down, regardless of who eats it along the way!!
(it was really freaking hard for me on Hard mode.)
Setup a full shield break, then chip away bit bybbit as the boss moves around. Kill the mages first before attacking the boss.
Ch 6 boss was harder for me, i had to get lucky to kill it with a crit.
also don't use up all of your gambits that your sturdier characters have since using a gambit will guarantee that monster enemies target the last unit who used one
Just finished the DLC. Truly excellent.
Played it on Hard/Classic and loved the challenge. Pushed me to take advantage of everything while still being completely doable. Feels on par with Conquest Hard, or Radiant Dawn Hard, and honestly maybe better balance than both of those. Every fight required me to work for it and the victories felt great and earned. The turn wheel was useful but limited enough for me to get a little nervous at a couple points.
Overall this just feels exactly like what the game needed, after the main Hard mode was bit too easy. I'm sure the decision to return to a straight mission structure, restore the weapons triangle, etc. was part of that. Just a huge improvement for the mess that FE had previously been using as DLC.
Now that my interest in the game is a bit rekindled, trying to decide what's next. I originally played Verdant Wind, and did Azure Moon on new game + before grinding to a halt on account of being too OP. I should probably go back and stridewarp my way through the rest of the story there. After that I still have Crimson Flower and Silver Snow. I'll probably do one of them over again with a clean new game to experience the main game with all DLC content. After that, I mayyyy consider trying a fresh maddening run.
Played it on Hard/Classic and loved the challenge. Pushed me to take advantage of everything while still being completely doable. Feels on par with Conquest Hard, or Radiant Dawn Hard, and honestly maybe better balance than both of those. Every fight required me to work for it and the victories felt great and earned. The turn wheel was useful but limited enough for me to get a little nervous at a couple points.
Overall this just feels exactly like what the game needed, after the main Hard mode was bit too easy. I'm sure the decision to return to a straight mission structure, restore the weapons triangle, etc. was part of that. Just a huge improvement for the mess that FE had previously been using as DLC.
Now that my interest in the game is a bit rekindled, trying to decide what's next. I originally played Verdant Wind, and did Azure Moon on new game + before grinding to a halt on account of being too OP. I should probably go back and stridewarp my way through the rest of the story there. After that I still have Crimson Flower and Silver Snow. I'll probably do one of them over again with a clean new game to experience the main game with all DLC content. After that, I mayyyy consider trying a fresh maddening run.