Fire Emblem: Three Houses Deep Dive Video

[Dark_Castle]

I wish they had expanded more on the map and objective designs instead of the school micromanaging shenanigan, or least showed bits of it in the trailer. Perhaps go into how the console engine with Switch has allowed them to create multi-dimensional, complex levels filled with intricate details and secrets, perhaps even have things like environment interaction, better A.I, more dynamic skill systems, just something that hooks hardcore fans in. There are so many cool things you can do with a strategy rpg. I think that's the missing link I get from the trailer. There was no gameplay hook in there. Hopefully a more gameplay-focused video is released not too long in the future.

Last thing I want for Fire Emblem is to turn into grinding for stats, grinding for classes abilities, simple bland maps with simple objective of routing all enemies, romance simulator.

 

[DeoGame]

Bad sales, yeah, but were they because of overall premise, map designs, and story?

Or was it because of unforgivable difficulty with no casual mode back then?

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I Don't think it was that tough.

Anyhow, shitty/non-existant ads, making a sequel to a poorly selling game and releasing said sequel the week before Mario Galaxy probably didn't help either.

 

[kurahador]

FFVIII is a school setting too.

 

[Maxina]

FFVIII is a school setting too.

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FF8 doesn't get shit on for its school setting as much as recent games, because its not fan service infested; and it released 20 years ago, when the school setting wasn't overdone as it is now for lots of jrpgs.

I wonder if Fates didn't leave a bad taste for some of the old school FE Fans, they'd actually be okay with a school setting. IS will just have to prove that this game will be more serious in tone than other anime trope riddled jrpgs.

 

[The Bear]

I'm mostly indifferent, it could be fun. That said, it could produce some weird tonal problems. The trailer already made me go "wait, what?" when it told that you could bring your students to battles where they could be killed :P.

It will also make any sort of romance systems feel very awkward at least, and could end up being very creepy.

 

[Patapuf]

School settings tend to be terrible, especially in strategy games. Can't think of one that turned out well.

But the story of Fates was some of the worst writing i've ever read across all media. So it could still be better than that.

 

[Mediking]

Day one!!!!!

 

[FutureLarking]

I was wondering why this looked so familiar when I was watching the reveal trailer... didn't even occur to me Koei Techmo could be assisting and that it was basically running the same graphics engine (or at least rendering style) as FE: Warriors. I'm curious if that was always planned and one of the reasons FE: Warriors actually became a thing in the first place, or just became a thing when they saw the progress of Warriors vs. their own attempts, which probably looked like a much prettier Echoes (which I would have loved).

Anyway, as long as the load times aren't anywhere near as long as Warriors I should be content.

 

[Mediking]

No customizable character and no romances. Total let down. :(

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I bet you can change clothes and date other teachers. Lol

 

[Lusankya]

This was really meh for me. Map design seems not like a leap.

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We barely saw any maps, though.

No romances is confirmed?

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Well, there can still be some romances in the S-Rank conversations, but at least there are no childs.
Overall gameplay elements seem to be way better than in the previous 3DS games.

 

[kurahador]

Hiring an Otome character designer just to gut the romance seems weird.

 

[Kivvi]

Camilla was an awesome character, though.

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To me personally she was very shallow like the majority of Fates. Plus she was fan service² and sprinkled with the overbearing mother complex. Her and other backstory are...well there. I like her axe and dragon in battle tho.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

My overall impression yesterday was very good, but rewatching now I'm super worried of the Personafication of the franchise. The school setting and the menus made me super worried they're just doing like almost every japanese RPG does these days and copying that franchise -- which would be terrible as that is the trend I dislike the most in the genre, can't stand what that series is today.

Guess overall excitement decreased a bit and I need to know more about the story's tone. Please no dating too, I never was a big "hater" and always saw it as optional, but I don't want FE to just be a power fantasy.

To me personally she was very shallow like the majority of Fates. Plus she was fan service² and sprinkled with the overbearing mother complex. Her and other backstory are...well there. I like her axe and dragon in battle tho.

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For all the flack she gets, she actually has an actual (gray) personality, clear motivations and a backstory. This all makes her a better character than 90% of the Fates ones that don't get criticized as much as Camilla.

 

[Bonejack]

Argh the freaking delay ... why FE again. There's got to be some issues with development, maybe due to the co-developing with KT? I mean ... there's a freaking Platinum game, completely unkown before, announced for release a month after. To be fair, it's unkown how long Astral Chain has been in development, but good grief FE's been announced in 2017.

Setting is a surprise, at least for me. It can work, it didn't work with VC2 ... so i hope they took a good look on that and don't go that way.

Personally, I'm expecting the game to be split in 3 story parts. First part is at the academy with all future lords being students. Then timeskip into war between the three realms, maybe with academy destroyed or something, but at least with the PC joining the realm of the lord you chose to support in the academy. Finally, realms get past their issues, start working together against the main evil.

That professor level in the one screenshot earlier looks interesting ... maybe you can have students become teachers for other chars regarding classes and skills once that level is high enough?

I know there's not too much to talk about the gameplay and all from what's been shown ... but i would appreciate if the discussion about romance and art-design wouldn't be the main topic for more than 10 pages straight.

The environments looks sparse and the scale of the world looks very off.

Not sure what's up with the 2000 foot tall empty buildings.

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It's fantasy ... watch Lord of the Rings again, the Mines of Moria were huge too ... and on top built by a race of really short people! ^^

The continent has a name this time around, so that's already a clear improvement to Fates!

I will stay curious tough

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You don't like Fateslandia? ;]

 

[Mediking]

My overall impression yesterday was very good, but rewatching now I'm super worried of the Personafication of the franchise.

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Embrace the inevitability! Muahahahaha!!!

.....


And no. This aint no damn Persona. This aint no Persona 3. No Persona 4. Or even Persona 5. I luv Persona and Fire Emblem for very different reasons.

 

[Maxina]

My overall impression yesterday was very good, but rewatching now I'm super worried of the Personafication of the franchise. The school setting and the menus made me super worried they're just doing like almost every japanese RPG does these days and copying that franchise -- which would be terrible as that is the trend I dislike the most in the genre, can't stand what that series is today.

Guess overall excitement decreased a bit and I need to know more about the story's tone. Please no dating too, I never was a big "hater" and always saw it as optional, but I don't want FE to just be a power fantasy.


For all the flack she gets, she actually has an actual (gray) personality, clear motivations and a backstory. This all makes her a better character than 90% of the Fates ones that don't get criticized as much as Camilla.

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I can't see how you think they would be "personafying" the franchise. For starters, you're not a student, but the teacher, and they only briefly mentioned that you could bond with your students. They focused more on helping your students grow to do well on the battlefield. People should stop automatically thinking everything school related is "persona-like".

Unsure about dating, but i can bet relationships are still in.

 

[Phabh]

Looks to be a very interesting shake-up and new approach for the franchise. I think it's going to be big.

 

[Manwell]

Criticize the school setting all you want, i like that they are doing something more different than what they normally due in terms of overall setting. It's a refreshing change of pace from so many previous games where you start out with your group of mercenaries from kingdom x and then kingdom y attacks for whatever reason.
Also, i love the whole aspect of your army/group being your students that you train. It looks like we will have way way more customization in how we train units in terms of stats/classes etc. It would be hilarious to try and beat the game with a full team of mages or axes xD

 

[Deleted member 2793]

Embrace the inevitability! Muahahahaha!!!

.....


And no. This aint no damn Persona. This aint no Persona 3. No Persona 4. Or even Persona 5. I luv Persona and Fire Emblem for very different reasons.

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I can't see how you think they would be "personafying" the franchise. For starters, you're not a student, but the teacher, and they only briefly mentioned that you could bond with your students. They focused more on helping your students grow to do well on the battlefield. People should stop automatically thinking everything school related is "persona-like".

Unsure about dating, but i can bet relationships are still in.

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Got too burned over too many games just copying Persona and making games worse for it.

I don't want the main character to be my mute self insert that is instantly beloved by everyone. I want a character that actually adds to the story in an interesting way and can be viewed in several different ways by the other characters in the story, adding different dynamics to it. Not every playable character needs to have the option to "love Byleth", that hinders their canon development. (Also, a teacher dating their teenager students is creepy af, but people didn't seem to get mad at in P5...)

Robin and Corrin at least talked and had personality, but I'm afraid this MC will be even more Persona-like than before and just be 100% mute/no personality and that worries me.

Doing stuff like this usually implies in gameplay being dumbed down, but I liked Awakening/Fates gameplay-wise just fine, so maybe I'm just worrying too much about this considering how IS cares about this aspect. Still need to see more to clear my doubts tho.

 

[Ahri]

Looks very ambitious. I loved everything I have seen so far.
My only concern is that all characters can evolve to all classes apparently?

Also, wait and see, it's literally the beginning of their campaign, they won't reveal the whole story/plot from now on.

EDIT: so far no characters like Camilla, and that's good for me.

 

[Mediking]

Got too burned over too many games just copying Persona and making games worse for it.

I don't want the main character to be my mute self insert that is instantly beloved by everyone. I want a character that actually adds to the story in an interesting way and can be viewed in several different ways by the other characters in the story, adding different dynamics to it. Not every playable character needs to have the option to "love Byleth", that hinders their canon development. (Also, a teacher dating their teenager students is creepy af, but people didn't seem to get mad at in P5...)

Robin and Corrin at least talked and had personality, but I'm afraid this MC will be even more Persona-like than before and just be 100% mute/no personality and that worries me.

Doing stuff like this usually implies in gameplay being dumbed down, but I liked Awakening/Fates gameplay-wise just fine, so maybe I'm just worrying too much about this considering how IS cares about this aspect. Still need to see more to clear my doubts tho.

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The silent protag is a turn off for me as well. The Persona community have been raging war over a silent MC or talking MC for years.

I noticed Byleth didn't talk in the anime scenes and I got worried. Hopefully.. we can choose Byleth's voice lol

You will prolly be able to date other professors. Not students

Byleth seems to be pivotal in the story. We're gonna make friends and enemies

 

[LazyLain]

Honestly this is the biggest concern I walked away from the trailer with:

Why on earth is Attack abbreviated to "Atk"? Nothing else is abbreviated, not even "Gambit" which is the same number of letters as "Attack". There's no reason to abbreviate other than to annoy people with the inconsistency. They had it right in the first trailer:

 

[Bonejack]

Honestly this is the biggest concern I walked away from the trailer with:

Why on earth is Attack abbreviated to "Atk"? Nothing else is abbreviated, not even "Gambit" which is the same number of letters as "Attack". There's no reason to abbreviate other than to annoy people with the inconsistency. They had it right in the first trailer:

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Might be because it's shortened as Atk in FEH? But comparing the screenshots, it's maybe just that they renamed some of the options.

 

[LazyLain]

Might be because it's shortened as Atk in FEH? But comparing the screenshots, it's maybe just that they renamed some of the options.

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Yeah they definitely renamed some of the options. It's still annoying to have one of the commands randomly abbreviated like that though, sticks out to me like a sore thumb

 

[LazyLain]

accidental double post

 

[kiguel182]

Would someone need to play the previous games to understand this? How does this series works in terms of continuity?

 

[ILikeFeet]

Would someone need to play the previous games to understand this? How does this series works in terms of continuity?

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Every game is practically separate. There are callbacks and references, but you dont need to play them to get it

 

[Bonejack]

Would someone need to play the previous games to understand this? How does this series works in terms of continuity?

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Complete story on it's own. In terms of how the previous games are connected, it's "mostly" loose.

You have Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn on GameCube, which are set in the same world and use the same chars.
The SNES games (Holy War and Thracia 776) are connected too, where Tharcia is kinda like a sub-story playing during the story of Holy War in a certain region of Holy Wars world.
And the first two GBA games are sequel and prequel too.

Other games like Sacred Strones (third GBA game) and Echoes are mostly standalone. Though very often there's some implied or cameo'd connection to other games. Echoes for example plays on a continent next to the one where the original FE games with Marth play, and some characters somehow make the move over, but the story is still standalone.

Awakening and Fates (the 3DS ones) only have some loose connection via some heroes, too.

 

[Servbot24]

The school setting I can take or leave. Having to choose one third of the game to play really sucks, I don't have time to play games over and over. I need to to see more of the battle system to know if this is a purchase.

 

[Oddish1]

Would someone need to play the previous games to understand this? How does this series works in terms of continuity?

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This game is completely standalone. Fire Emblem is generally standalone with occasional direct sequels. Kind of like Final Fantasy.

 

[jay]

And this confirms Radiant Dawn is still the last Fire Emblem I care about.

 

[Woylie]

I actually like the "Pokemon Starter" style choice of lords. It was cool to pick whether to follow Eirika or Ephraim in FF8, so I'm hoping this is an expansion of that and the three routes are pretty different. I'm guessing they'll probably converge midgame though.

Is anyone else worried Byleth might not be that customizable, and may just be a simple gender choice? I didn't think so until it seemed like they appear in pre-rendered (?) cutscenes in the trailer, which made me wonder if we won't be able to customize beyond gender. Hopefully those cutscenes are in-engine and can show off the custom character, because I don't want to be stuck with boring blue-haired broody sword boy/girl.

EDIT: Ugh, it seems like other people noticed this too. What a baffling choice - I wonder if this means Byleth is likely for Smash.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

I actually like the "Pokemon Starter" style choice of lords. It was cool to pick whether to follow Eirika or Ephraim in FF8, so I'm hoping this is an expansion of that and the three routes are pretty different. I'm guessing they'll probably converge midgame though.

Is anyone else worried Byleth might not be that customizable, and may just be a simple gender choice? I didn't think so until it seemed like they appear in pre-rendered (?) cutscenes in the trailer, which made me wonder if we won't be able to customize beyond gender. Hopefully those cutscenes are in-engine and can show off the custom character, because I don't want to be stuck with boring blue-haired broody sword boy/girl.

EDIT: Ugh, it seems like other people noticed this too. What a baffling choice - I wonder if this means Byleth is likely for Smash.

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I think they just didn't want to show everything. I doubt they would be dumb enough to remove the customization people love, it would get them a lot of backlash. Also, MC seems even more self inserti-ish than before, so I think if anything they'll show even more customization later.

And Nintendo characters getting in Smash? Heh. Nice to dream, I guess.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

the game looks great, super polished, much better than it was first shown
but
i don't know if i'm into the school stuff. this was going to be my first fire emblem game but now i'm not so sure. i'll have to wait and read people's impressions after it is released.

 

[ChrisP8Three]

Generally i liked most things with this, but the student angle irritates me a little, as everyone is in a school uniform will that limit character/job clothing/armour design? one thing i always loved about FE games was the characters and the unique designs, how rag tag armies formed - initially i think this might end up with very similar character design which will be a loss for the game to me.

That apart however it all looked very interesting

 

[henlo_birb]

I guess as someone who hasn't followed anime too closely in years I don't really know the "high school anime" trope. I liked the premise. It made me think of Ogre Battle 64 and the opening military academy. Also, they didn't really go into detail about what the actual game and conflict will be, they really just gave you the base premise. There's only so much you can infer from that. I'm not worried at all that IS will make a great game. I didn't play Fates, but I loved Awakening. I have high hopes for this title.

 

[Glio]

Generally i liked most things with this, but the student angle irritates me a little, as everyone is in a school uniform will that limit character/job clothing/armour design? one thing i always loved about FE games was the characters and the unique designs, how rag tag armies formed - initially i think this might end up with very similar character design which will be a loss for the game to me.

That apart however it all looked very interesting

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Nah

 

[Deleted member 2793]

I guess as someone who hasn't followed anime too closely in years I don't really know the "high school anime" trope. I liked the premise. It made me think of Ogre Battle 64 and the opening military academy. Also, they didn't really go into detail about what the actual game and conflict will be, they really just gave you the base premise. There's only so much you can infer from that. I'm not worried at all that IS will make a great game. I didn't play Fates, but I loved Awakening. I have high hopes for this title.

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The "high school anime trope" thing is repeated by mostly people who don't even watch anime, so don't mind it too much. lol

I have my concerns about stuff, but school setting doesn't mean things are instantly bad or can only hit the same story notes.

 

[Woylie]

I kind of wonder if the school bit is just the first half of the game, and then the latter half takes place later FE4 style when the students have grown up and have kids. That would certainly be a more graceful way to integrate the marriage/children mechanic than hyperbolic time chamber war babies

 

[Patapuf]

The "high school anime trope" thing is repeated by mostly people who don't even watch anime, so don't mind it too much. lol

I have my concerns about stuff, but school setting doesn't mean things are instantly bad or can only hit the same story notes.

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Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

It's only slightly above "let's invade this country but not kill anyone".

The best i hope for is some decent character moments.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Every student is a 1000 year old dragon !

 

[Glio]

Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

It's only slightly above "let's invade this country but not kill anyone".

The best i hope for is some decent character moments.

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It is not so far from how military academies functioned in expanding empires.

Change bandits for rebel troops according to your point of view. Squires entered combat with 14 years.

The history is more fucked than people think

 

[Deleted member 2793]

Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

It's only slightly above "let's invade this country but not kill anyone".

The best i hope for is some decent character moments.

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I mean, most FE games are mostly about good looking teenagers-young adults fighting evil empires controled by Generic Evil Old Person and dragons/demons. Marth is 16 in the first game.

This just gives it some context and I think an elite military school having students fighting some mercs isn't that unrealistic in comparison to the other games. Even has some foundation in things from real life medieval culture.

I think there are nice ways to develop a story about a neutral military school, even more when treating how much it will influence future leaders. My concerns are that a Mute Main Character with lots of conversational options remind me too much of Persona, a series that is a TERRIBLE fit for a game like FE. So yeah, school setting is fine, but if follows persona trends that school setting could be used in terrible ways (like equating teaching to dating your students).

 

[Deleted member 7051]

Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

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Oh I wouldn't worry about that. The fact you ally with one of the Houses seems to imply war is going to break out between the three countries and there could well be three separate storylines depending on the House you support - and maybe even a fourth once you've cleared the game three times?

 

[Enduin]

I hope the cast is more diverse than what we've seen. Being an officers academy is already bad enough for the potential background if characters, I miss the kind of rag tag mix of peasants, farmers, soldiers and nobles, and of what we've seen everybody is white as fuck.

 

[ChrisP8Three]

Nah

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Sweeeeeeet! didn't notice that, must have been more sleepy than i thought last night to miss that.
Roll on day 1

 

[Patapuf]

It is not so far from how military academies functioned in expanding empires.

Change bandits for rebel troops according to your point of view.

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Military academies like the one shown in the trailer train officers, not foot soldiers. And we are not talking expanding empires in the scenario laid out.

This is three ostensibly friendly (why else would they share an academy) empires on a continent and the school is in the middle of them, not on the borders where you'd have rebels. Nevermind that you don't actually put troops in training in combat unless you are desperate. A battle is not a training ground. Not even in the darkest middle ages would you ever send untrained soldiers that aren't canon fodder in a battle.

The setting just shows that this will once again be a "cartoon war" more than anything. I don't need a grimdark story. But it'd nice if we had FE's that at least aknowledge that these are people fighting battles and not "training".

 

[ChrisP8Three]

Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

It's only slightly above "let's invade this country but not kill anyone".

The best i hope for is some decent character moments.

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Oh I wouldn't worry about that. The fact you ally with one of the Houses seems to imply war is going to break out between the three countries and there could well be three separate storylines depending on the House you support - and maybe even a fourth once you've cleared the game three times?

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Trails of Cold Steel did that to some extent and it made perfect sense in the context of that story, so i totally agree three isn't any reason why it couldn't be plausible in context of the story. Story elements are kind of a wait and see

 

[808s & Villainy]

Eh, "students go on merry adventure fighting bandits" is already so far from any believable scenario that i have zero hopes for the story to be worth much.

It's only slightly above "let's invade this country but not kill anyone".

The best i hope for is some decent character moments.

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The hot takes in this thread are going to make these months agonizing. Some of y'all just need to admit you don't like modern FE just because and you'll find anything remotely ridiculous to fault the game with. The fact you're down on the game, not for its actual story, but for the story you're imagining it to have for the sake of trashing it, says something

 

[Glio]

Military academies like the one shown in the trailer train officers, not foot soldiers. And we are not talking expanding empires in the scenario laid out.

This is three ostensibly friendly (why else would they share an academy) empires on a continent and the school is in the middle of them, not on the borders where you'd have rebels. Nevermind that you don't actually put troops in training in combat unless you are desperate. A battle is not a training ground. Not even in the darkest middle ages would you ever send untrained soldiers that aren't canon fodder in a battle.

The setting just shows that this will once again be a "cartoon war" more than anything. I don't need a grimdark story. But it'd nice if we had FE's that at least aknowledge that these are people fighting battles and not "training".

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They are leading troops, that's why they have mooks with them. They are all officers, not soldiers.