Fire Emblem: Three Houses |LTTP| "Which house should I start with?" "The one not run by Tom Nook."

[SiG]

So I recently acquired and started Three Houses. I got Claude as MVP during the first tutorial "skirmish", and got to the part where I finally have to choose a House to teach in.

From what I understand: Blue Lions is the standard cavalry campaign, Golden Deer are archers, and Black Eagles are the mages. I don't know if there is a certain "canonical" way to proceed with the houses in order to best experience the story and whatnot, but I haven't moved an inch in fear of making a mistake of choosing a campaign that might be intended for more experienced players. I know each of the campaigns are supposedly distinct, but sudpposing I know nothing about the weapon triangle, is there a particular order that would ease you into the mechanics of each class?

 

[DecoReturns]

Pick whichever you want.

The game isn't difficult enough that you'll struggle. Plus each will teach you the fundamentals.

I recommend Blue Lions as Dimitri is a great character

 

[Starlatine]

there's no weapon triangle in 3H
just pick the house with the characters you like more

 

[Descendant]

So I recently acquired and started Three Houses. I got Claude as MVP during the first tutorial "skirmish", and got to the part where I finally have to choose a House to teach in.

From what I understand: Blue Lions is the standard cavalry campaign, Golden Deer are archers, and Black Eagles are the mages. I don't know if there is a certain "canonical" way to proceed with the houses in order to best experience the story and whatnot, but I haven't moved an inch in fear of making a mistake of choosing a campaign that might be intended for more experienced players. I know each of the campaigns are supposedly distinct, but sudpposing I know nothing about the weapon triangle, is there a particular order that would ease you into the mechanics of each class?

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I would speak to every member of the house, and just make your choice based on the characters you want to start your story with. Gameplay wise it should be balanced enough, no matter which house you pick.

 

[Lotus]

Start with Blue Lions

 

[Farrac]

Gameplay wise you don't have to worry too much. Yes, the game implies that some houses have certain preferences but they all are similar at large and you can always recruit other students to fill whatever role you are missing. There's a large room for customization in the end.

Story wise? There's no right answer, but it's probably either Blue Lions or Black Eagles, but it's not like choosing the Golden Deer is wrong either. So go with your gut I say.

 

[SiG]

there's no weapon triangle in 3H

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Wait WHAT?

 

[LaneDS]

Agreed that any choice is a good choice (and you can play the other campaigns in New Game+ if you'd like) but I'll shout out the Golden Deer as the best of the bunch.

 

[King Dodongo]

Whatever house has the students you like the most.
I picked Blue Lions and felt great about it. Wouldn't have wanted any other way.

 

[DPT120]

The houses are pretty similar gameplay wise although Edelgard's route is shorter. Just choose the house you like more. Keep in mind, you can recruit any students from other houses that you like (minus a certain few, depending on the route). I picked the golden eagles (Edelgard ftw) and didn't regret it.

 

[Farrac]

Wait WHAT?

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There are some abilities that can replicate it but no, there isn't a traditional one.

 

[sorryaboutdresden]

Went with the Stags because they looked the coolest, but they all have good characters and you can recruit most of them over to whatever house you pick.

 

[RochHoch]

Blue Lions for life

 

[Aaronrules380]

My experience is that pretty much everybody's favorite house just ends up being whichever one they played through first

That said Blue Lions are the best house

 

[SiG]

I went with classic difficulty btw.

I also noticed the terrain bonuses seem hit or miss. Is this normal, or do these bonuses stack so long as you place them adjecent to other allied units?

 

[Luke88]

Start with Black Eagles, they have the most adorable characters aka Linhardt and Bernie.

 

[Starlatine]

actually go with the house that have the leader and immediate sidekick (its not hard to realize who they are) you like more. you can recruit pretty much everyone else. hell just go with your favourite colour

 

[Ahnez]

So I recently acquired and started Three Houses. I got Claude as MVP during the first tutorial "skirmish", and got to the part where I finally have to choose a House to teach in.

From what I understand: Blue Lions is the standard cavalry campaign, Golden Deer are archers, and Black Eagles are the mages. I don't know if there is a certain "canonical" way to proceed with the houses in order to best experience the story and whatnot, but I haven't moved an inch in fear of making a mistake of choosing a campaign that might be intended for more experienced players. I know each of the campaigns are supposedly distinct, but sudpposing I know nothing about the weapon triangle, is there a particular order that would ease you into the mechanics of each class?

Click to shrink...

You should pick the one with the caracters that interest you the most. Almost every student aside from the leaders and a couple extra exceptions can be recruited to any other house as well.

Its very likely that the first house you pick will end up being your favorite. I started with golden deer beucause I liked Claude's first impression the most from the three leaders, and I do think its the better route. But again, ignore everyone who says "pick this house", and choose based on your impression of the characters.

The students' classes are not house dependant though. In fact you can freely choose the class of every unit, you don't have to stick to their default ones

 

[dreamlongdead]

You be fine with any choice.

I chose Golden Deer as my first playthrough, and I went on to do the other houses. Spent hundreds of hours replaying Maddening on different paths.

If for some strange reason that you can only do one, go for Blue Lions because of the story.

 

[LunaSerena]

Choose according the characters you like most. If you truly want to know all the lore and world-building in Foldan, you'll have to play all routes anyway.

I picked the Golden Deer and Claude and thought it was great, since it focuses a bit more on "the world of Foldan" than the other two houses. The other houses tend to focus a bit more on their leaders (Dimitri and Edelgard) stories, so all the story about why Fodlan is like it is tend to fall a bit to the wayside.

 

[KartuneDX]

I just wanna say Three Houses is probably the single greatest Switch platform exclusive and I'm envious of your first time run. Golden Deer all the way. Go with whichever house you like the most character-wise and don't look back. You might think you'll revisit the other houses on a new save and maybe you will, but one play through alone is so meaty and long that I suggest not putting too much thought into it.

 

[FF Seraphim]

Go with Blue Lions first.

 

[Tochtli79]

Pick Blue Lions or Black Eagles depending on which characters you like more. Nothing against Golden Deer but that route feels like it should be played after one of those for plot reasons.

 

[petitmelon]

Pick the house with the most characters you like or the house with your favorite leader. The game won't kick your butt if you pick one house over another.

 

[Master Milk]

Wait WHAT?

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the weapon triangle is relegated to abilities, so it exists, but you only have to deal with it on higher difficulties

start with black eagles

 

[Deleted member 11413]

So I recently acquired and started Three Houses. I got Claude as MVP during the first tutorial "skirmish", and got to the part where I finally have to choose a House to teach in.

From what I understand: Blue Lions is the standard cavalry campaign, Golden Deer are archers, and Black Eagles are the mages. I don't know if there is a certain "canonical" way to proceed with the houses in order to best experience the story and whatnot, but I haven't moved an inch in fear of making a mistake of choosing a campaign that might be intended for more experienced players. I know each of the campaigns are supposedly distinct, but sudpposing I know nothing about the weapon triangle, is there a particular order that would ease you into the mechanics of each class?

Click to shrink...

The campaigns really are not segregated by difficulty, unlike older games in the series. There is one campaign in particular that is noticeably shorter than the other three, but no matter what route you choose you will be fine. Three Houses is on the easier side for Fire Emblem, only some of the side chapters present a significant challenge and they are optional.

 

[Mimosa]

I'm Dimitri trash 4 life, so Blue Lions!

Though my two Tumblr witch friends loved Black Eagles the best.

 

[Hailinel]

Pick the house you want. None of them are poor choices because they all have great characters.

The campaigns really are not segregated by difficulty, unlike older games in the series. There is one campaign in particular that is noticeably shorter than the other three, but no matter what route you choose you will be fine. Three Houses is on the easier side for Fire Emblem, only some of the side chapters present a significant challenge and they are optional.

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And also, OP, if you decide to get the DLC, the Cindered Shadows sidestory is easily the most challenging that Three Houses gets.

 

[CarlSagan94]

Purely from the story angle, there is one key question you should ask yourself: do you intend to play all 3 routes ? If yes, I highly recommend you do Edelgard's last. If not, you should either do Edelgards or Dimitris.

I have played all the routes after 400 hours and wondered myself which order I would recommend. I say play Black Eagles last if you want to play them all because her route, in my opinion, asks a lot of story knowledge to really appreciate. There are a lot of important details that will make less sense and be way less impactful if you experience them first rather than after at least one route.

If you feel like you will only play one, then I recommend Blue Lions or Black Eagles. The Dimitri route, I would argue, is the best self contained story and while you lose a lot in lore and a character that I really like disappears for the second half of the game, the overall story of Dimitri is really good and poignant. The other option I would suggest is the Black Eagles because, again in my opinion, its the most interesting one story wise. It was clearly the last one conceived by the developers (hence why its best to play last if you play all routes), but unfortunately some parts feel a bit rushed compared to other stories. Nonetheless, it has the best story and is very refreshing (especially if you've played a lot of Fire Emblems like me), it also hosts my personal favourite chapter in all routes.

Claude's path is very robust and he is an absolute chad (but all three lords are amazing honestly) but I do feel like his story, while it gives a lot of important lore, isn't super well told and is kind of disjointed. Its a solid choice nontheless if you really connect with him and his class.

So TLDR: If you want to play all the routes, do Claude/Dimitri/Edelgard. If you think you will only play one, then do either Dimitri's who has the most complete package, self contained and powerful story, or Edelgard's who has more low but higher highs and offers the most interesting story overall. Also, its a spoiler but I think its good to know in advance if you don't mind:

Spoiler

The Black Eagle route has a split and therefore offers two routes (so there are a total of 4 routes). Its imo the weakest of all 4 as it has a very interesting concept but is very poorly achieved and Claude's path is essentially a copy of it. Its therefore at the bottom of my suggestions, but it is worth playing if you really are interested in the lore of the game.

Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

Pick the house you want. None of them are poor choices because they all have great characters.


And also, OP, if you decide to get the DLC, the Cindered Shadows sidestory is easily the most challenging that Three Houses gets.

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Oh yeah the DLC is pretty challenging too, good point.

 

[Hailinel]

Spoiler

The Black Eagle route has a split and therefore offers two routes (so there are a total of 4 routes). I suggest skipping one of them because its imo the worst of all 4 as it has a very interesting concept but is very poorly achieved and Claude's path is essentially a copy of it.

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Do not listen to this person.

 

[CarlSagan94]

Do not listen to this person.

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lol okay, thanks for your constructive criticism.

 

[Hailinel]

lol okay, thanks for your constructive criticism.

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That was admittedly snide. But I would never tell people "Don't play this route."

 

[Deleted member 11637]

Go with Blue Lions first.

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Listen to this person, thank us later.

 

[Mercury_Sagit]

Gameplay wise, there is always recruiment so you don't really have to worry about the preference of each house as you can add students from other houses into your team.
Storywise, I'd personally recommend Blue Lions or Black Eagles first since they are kind of two sides of the same coin as you follow Edelgard or Dimitri until the end. Then go with Golden Deer for a kinda sideline yet overarching plot. Somehow the narrative in this route resonates with me a lot as it's very similar to how a scholar approaches a problem with curiousity and go on their own route to arrive at the solution.
Additionally since you mentioned weapon triangle, may I ask if you already had experience with past FE games? If so classic + maddening please, you are in for a ride.

 

[lovecatt]

just pick whatever house interests you the most

 

[CarlSagan94]

That was admittedly snide. But I would never tell people "Don't play this route."

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My goal was to inform him which route I think is the weakest from my personal experience due to the strong repetitive nature of the route and Claude's story being a better version of it. I do take your point though and maybe should rephrase a little. All routes are worth playing in one way or another.

 

[Hailinel]

My goal was to inform him which route I think is the weakest from my personal experience due to the strong repetitive nature of the route and Claude's story being a better version of it. I do take your point though and maybe should rephrase a little. All routes are worth playing in one way or another.

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That's fair. From my experience, I played the route you wanted to steer them away from first, and I really enjoyed it start to finish. Playing Claude's route felt like the lesser reprise.

 

[Nevermeltice]

Blue Lions all the way! Ashe best boy.

 

[Lotus]

My goal was to inform him which route I think is the weakest from my personal experience due to the strong repetitive nature of the route and Claude's story being a better version of it. I do take your point though and maybe should rephrase a little. All routes are worth playing in one way or another.

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I completely agree with you, had I known at the time that Claude had the better version of the route I did, I would've never done it, I only got so much time

Hell it's only now I'm finally making time to do his route, my last one

 

[JuniperAndSage]

If you're playing one route only, go with golden deer. If you're planning multiple playthroughs, start with blue lions.

 

[Mass Effect]

I'd suggest you pick your house based on which characters you like the most.

I chose Black Eagles.

 

[falcondoc]

Blue Lions

 

[Sekiro]

Dimitri chads rise up!

 

[RiOrius]

Having played all the routes, and I ultimately thought that the Golden Deer did the best job of resolving mysteries/explaining backstory, and I liked its leader the best. Its actual members weren't great IMO (as characters, not as units: tactically you'll be fine no matter what, don't worry about that), so don't be shy about recruiting people you like from other houses.

Although note that recruiting can be a bit awkward, so you might want to look up the requirements in a guide to make sure you're building towards them once you know who you want.

 

[Dougieflesh]

Blue Lions is the best route with the best characters.