• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Fire Emblem Three Houses or Tokyo Mirage Sessions - which one should I get?

kaputt

kaputt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,204
I wanna buy a new game for my Switch, an RPG seems nice but I'm not sure which one should I get.

I played Fire Emblem Awekening for the 3DS and mildly enjoyed it. It was fun, but it lasted a bit longer than I wanted and the story and characters didn't capture my attention at all. The best thing was the combat, it was good.

On the other hand, I played just the beginning of Tokyo Mirage on a Wii U back then and it looked so charming. It reminded me of Persona. The downside would be the lack of a social link system.

So I would like to know if Three Houses improved on the story and relationship building when compared to Awekening. Judging by reviews, it seems it had, I'm just not sure if it was a huge improvement or just a small step forward.

Also, what would you list as downsides of Tokyo Mirrage Sessions?
 
Farrac

Farrac

Member
Nov 3, 2017
2,082
Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Three Houses is a big improvement over Awakening.

Regarding TMS, it does have a stand-in for a social link system.

In any case, both are great games and you can't really go wrong with either but they are vastly different. Are you in a mood for a SMT-like RPG or a strategy RPG? Then choose based on that.
 
Apollo

Apollo

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,090
kaputt said:
So I would like to know if Three Houses improved on the story and relationship building when compared to Awekening. Judging by reviews, it seems it had, I'm just not sure if it was a huge improvement or just a small step forward.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's a huge step forward. Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a fun RPG too with a good battle system and a great aesthetic. I'll take Three Houses any day for story and characters though.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,382
Both are solid 7/10s.

Re: your questions. Three Houses is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than Awakening. The story and characters are much better, but overall it's a net loss in terms of pacing anyway. The gameplay is at a similar level. Better/worse in different ways (you have way more freedom in how you build out your characters, but the maps are even less interesting).

TMS has social links. The downsides to that game are that the story is kind of nothing, and that it's disappointing as a crossover (though that doesn't sound like much of a negative for you?). The dungeon gimmicks also largely suck imo, but YMMV.

You kind of sound like you'd enjoy TMS more.
 
Faiyaz

Faiyaz

Member
Nov 30, 2017
5,262
Bangladesh
Three Houses is handily the better game and an easy 10/10. But going by your tastes, I'm guessing you might enjoy TMS more? Since you didn't like Awakening that much. But, also note that Three Houses has a significantly better story and characters than Awakening. And it also has much better map design and a lot more customization options, so the combat is better.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,382
Faiyaz said:
Three Houses is handily the better game and an easy 10/10. But going by your tastes, I'm guessing you might enjoy TMS more? Since you didn't like Awakening that much. But, also note that Three Houses has a significantly better story and characters than Awakening. And it also has much better map design, so the combat is better.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's Awakening without character recruitment or towns to visit >.<
 
Faiyaz

Faiyaz

Member
Nov 30, 2017
5,262
Bangladesh
Strings said:
It's Awakening without character recruitment or towns to visit >.<
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Nah the map design is significantly improved over the Gaiden/Echoes style open fields of Awakening with 0 terrain and a thousand mounted enemies. Still not one of the better designed in the series by any means, but galaxies ahead of Awakening.
 

Scruffy8642

Member
Jan 24, 2020
2,849
Haven't played 3 houses, but from the 3 hours I've played of TMS so far, all I can say is that it's completely unremarkable. It's just... a JRPG without particularly interesting characters or story, and the battle system is just kinda there. I think FE should be funner just for the battle system alone, though I also wasn't super keen on Awakening.
 
Taruranto

Taruranto

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,047
Faiyaz said:
Nah the map design is significantly improved over the Gaiden/Echoes style open fields of Awakening with 0 terrain and a thousand mounted enemies. Still not one of the better designed in the series by any means, but galaxies ahead of Awakening.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I really don't see it, especially given there are like 5 maps recycled over and over.
 
Tibarn

Tibarn

Member
Oct 31, 2017
13,370
Barcelona
Both games are great IMO.

FE 3H has far better story/lore/characters than Awakening, it's longer (mostly because there are lots of new mechanics tied to the character development that add a lot of "non-combat" hours to the game), but has some repeated maps which is a letdown.

TMS is charming as you said, the combat system is a ton of fun, and while the tone of the game is lighthearted compared to Persona, I almost prefer this over the half-assed and safe take on "serious topics" that Persona 5 has. If you don't mind a game centered around the japanese musical industry, TMS is a great JRPG.
 
Tibarn

Tibarn

Member
Oct 31, 2017
13,370
Barcelona
Taruranto said:
I really don't see it, especially given there are like 5 maps recycled over and over.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not really, I think that the map recycling problem only becomes evident on your 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) route, during the first one all the story maps are different and the sidequest maps are short. The problem is playing your 2nd route and finding that the sidequest map you've cleared 10 times is the next main mission map, but even when this happen the enemy placements are different.
 
Ramsay

Ramsay

Member
Jul 2, 2019
3,621
Australia
Three Houses by far. It has a story that is actually good for once (the best out of any Nintendo RPG since Xenoblade 1, though that isn't saying much at all) and easily the best cast of characters in the series.

TMS is pretty good (and I'd say that it's better than Persona 5), but it's very niche (idols are a major turnoff) and has overall unimpressive writing.
 
Oreiller

Oreiller

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,831
TMS is decent at best. It doesn't do anything particulary great but it isn't awful either but its story is trash.

Three Houses is a pretty good tactical RPG bogged down by repetitive map design and timewasting social segments.

I'd say go with Three Houses though, it's much better.
 
Etrian Darkness

Etrian Darkness

Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,515
UK
I haven't played Three Houses but I think Tokyo Mirage Sessions is underrated for sure. It's probably Atlus best HD RPG.

Though Itsuki is plain bread and he's stuck in the party until NG+ when you can rotate him out.

Also if you're going in for Fire Emblem content, in TMS it's window dressing. It barely relates and has any impact. While playing I was thinking about how we were robbed of Atlus original performa/demon designs, because that's all the FE is in TMS: cool demonic designs using FE characters as a base.
Oh and I guess there's the weapon triangle system is a main part of battles. In fact the combat of TMS is really good. It basically is exploiting weakness and creating a giant chain of follow up attacks. And good thing Encore has a speed up mode for that because that would be annoying otherwise.
The idol stuff feels more like worshipping the industry and very surface level which is sad.


Also it has "social links", but they're more involved side quests with the characters. A lot of the time I wish that was the main story. I'd take a Toku game over an idol game that's for sure.
 
werezompire

werezompire

Zeboyd Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
11,323
I haven't played FE:3H, but TMS#FE is really good. The main story isn't very good but some of the side stories are amusing & the cast is fun. The gameplay is really good and offers a challenge on the highest difficulty levels (unlike Persona 5 Royal). Visuals have a lot of style and as you would expect from a J-Pop-themed RPG, the soundtrack is excellent. I also appreciate that the game isn't ridiculously long - HLTB has it pegged at about 40 hours which sounds about right to me. And if you want more than that, there's a NG+ mode with a harder difficulty & some extra challenges.
 
Last edited:
Taruranto

Taruranto

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,047
Tibarn said:
Not really, I think that the map recycling problem only becomes evident on your 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) route, during the first one all the story maps are different and the sidequest maps are short. The problem is playing your 2nd route and finding that the sidequest map you've cleared 10 times is the next main mission map, but even when this happen the enemy placements are different.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I played the game only two times and noticed the recycled map pretty soon. Some paralogues map straight up use maps that will be used later in the story for important story battles (Like the town one). And the game is meant to be played a couple of times at least anyway.
 
60fps

60fps

Banned
Dec 18, 2017
3,492
In case of Fire Emblem beware of tiny text. It's like half the size compared to Awakening, despite having same sized text boxes for some ridiculous reason.

 
youwei

youwei

Member
Jun 3, 2019
723
Tokyo Mirage Sessions - has no season pass and contains all dlc and additional content from WiiU version

FE3H - Season pass needed for the full game experience

depending on your choice if you wanna spend $ on season pass
 
bunikerrim

bunikerrim

Member
Oct 3, 2019
173
Three Houses is the better overall experience, but TMS is the better RPG, with better combat systems. If you like the Persona series you'll find TMS great
 
thediamondage

thediamondage

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,248
I've played both on the switch and liked them both. I'd say the choices come down to

- Tokyo Mirage is way more "anime". I knew absolutely nothing about the whole idol scene in Japan before TMS, and while I don't still really understand it, it was interesting to see it
- Tokyo Mirage is more regular JRPG dungeon crawler combat, ala Persona, Dragon Quest, etc
- Fire Emblems is more turn based, open map tactical combat, ala x-com or Mario Rabbids
- Fire Emblems is more Harry Potter than anime, with a lot of the game set in basically Hogwarts

so I'd say it comes down to a personal preference, Harry Potter vs Anime and X-Com combat vs JRPG combat

I enjoyed both games almost equally and they are the only two Fire Emblem games I have ever played. I'd put the slight nod towards Fire Emblem for me personally, but I do really like Harry Potter.
 
dabri

dabri

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,728
TMS is a decent 6/10 game. Very traditional JRPG with a jpop/idol theme that I couldn't get into. Good battle system similar to Persona.
Three houses is a decent 7/10 game. Graphics are ok. You can tell they are using Warriors engine. Battle system is modified FE. The trifecta is sort of removed which was annoying until you unlock the abilities that give you the trifecta back, sort of.
I still can't decide if I like the school system/ calendar system. It's not bad but I didn't feel like it fit very well. In addition, I felt the story was very lacking.
Granted I ended up only playing Edgelords story and even then, not the standard one which I hear is the worst ending.
 
ShyMel

ShyMel

Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
3,483
If you are concerned with length, completing all of the routes in the base game of Three Houses will take longer than beating Awakening. If you complete only one route the time is more comparable to completing Awakening.
 
sibarraz

sibarraz

Prophet of Regret - One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
18,102
Three Houses, is one of the most content lladed RPG that I have played and I really like its combat and class building mechanics. TMS must be one of the most mediocre RPG that I had ever played
 
OP
OP
kaputt

kaputt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,204
thanks a lot for all the answers!

As some have noticed, I do have a bias in favor of TMS. However, all the praise for the FE made me curious, and the impressions are really leaning me towards it.


Tibarn said:
Both games are great IMO.

FE 3H has far better story/lore/characters than Awakening, it's longer (mostly because there are lots of new mechanics tied to the character development that add a lot of "non-combat" hours to the game), but has some repeated maps which is a letdown.

TMS is charming as you said, the combat system is a ton of fun, and while the tone of the game is lighthearted compared to Persona, I almost prefer this over the half-assed and safe take on "serious topics" that Persona 5 has. If you don't mind a game centered around the japanese musical industry, TMS is a great JRPG.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I do enjoy more the naive and adolescent feel of the Persona games, so I believe I wouldn't mind at all TMS being a bit sillier. Usually I'm not the biggest fan of games similar to anime, but the Persona series really gets me somehow, and TMS seemed to have a similar vibe.

thediamondage said:
I've played both on the switch and liked them both. I'd say the choices come down to

- Tokyo Mirage is way more "anime". I knew absolutely nothing about the whole idol scene in Japan before TMS, and while I don't still really understand it, it was interesting to see it
- Tokyo Mirage is more regular JRPG dungeon crawler combat, ala Persona, Dragon Quest, etc
- Fire Emblems is more turn based, open map tactical combat, ala x-com or Mario Rabbids
- Fire Emblems is more Harry Potter than anime, with a lot of the game set in basically Hogwarts

so I'd say it comes down to a personal preference, Harry Potter vs Anime and X-Com combat vs JRPG combat

I enjoyed both games almost equally and they are the only two Fire Emblem games I have ever played. I'd put the slight nod towards Fire Emblem for me personally, but I do really like Harry Potter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thanks a bunch for the comparison, it helps a lot.

I believe I am more an anime person than Harry Potter.

I'm still undecided, but it looks like I'll have a great time with both of them. I'll keep reading the posts here, it's really helpful to see what expectations I should have for each game
 
Ehoavash

Ehoavash

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,232
Three houses gets verrrry repetitive and the 2nd half feels like sooo much filler that doesn't progress the story at all sometimes.

Haven't played TMS
 
horkrux

horkrux

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,719
Tokyo Mirage Sessions is like a poor man's Persona game. The only thing it has going for it is the entire ridiculous Idol setting, but everything else just feels rather shallow. It took me over 50h to beat (because I never skipped those flashy Sessions), but I was already growing tired of it long before the end.
I would go with Three Houses instead
 

Deleted member 34873

User-requested account closure
Banned
Nov 29, 2017
1,460
TMS is a lot of fun and basically checks all the JRPG boxes. It's a solid 8.5 game.

Three Houses is definitely a much meatier game with the different schools with more depth and replayability. That said, the second half can drag a little because of the way the gameplay loop is designed. Price per hour of pure gaming, Three Houses wins.

But TMS is a great game and has a special place in my heart.
 
Nevermeltice

Nevermeltice

One Winged Slayer
Member
Feb 10, 2019
1,656
Fire Emblem Three Houses has much more interesting character development and lore than Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I don't mind the silly nature and idol aspect of TMS and it's a good game in its own right with an addicting gameplay look but Three Houses washes it with memorable characters.
 
OP
OP
kaputt

kaputt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,204
Just to give a feedback, I ended up buying Fire Emblem Three Houses.

I watched its first 30 minutes and the characters seemed interesting enough, better than Awakening. It left a positive impression, and considering all the posts here saying it's a more engrossing game, I think it's a good choice.

To my luck, the game is 30% off on the eshop here in Brazil.

Thank you all for the help!

P.S.: Now I gotta decide which house should I choose, decisions decisions
 
Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Diarrhea Day-Lewis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,757
I haven't started TMS but 3H all day. Good story, amazing characters, music and the core setting is stellar. Plus it's easily 3-4 50 hour play thrus each with about 5+ hours if you get DLC
 
keeblerdrow

keeblerdrow

Member
Dec 17, 2017
92
Tokyo Mirage Sessions also is super problematic in that it glorifies the Pop Idol industry. The industry is known to be abusive towards its stars and is not a particularly good influence on its fans. I really liked the mechanics and systems of TMS, but ultimately had to put it down cause the way all the characters glorified and idolized (ha) this industry and waxed poetic about it left me feeling like I was supporting something I shouldn't be. I think I'd have found all this nothing more than fluff if I didn't already know about the horrible conditions in that industry going in.
 
Tab

Tab

Member
Nov 23, 2017
1,276
Have fun. Pick whatever house appeals to you the most, and ignore anybody who tries to tell you which one to pick.

As an aside, I haven't played TMS, so I couldn't have said which one to get in good faith. I can't believe it hasn't gone on sale at all this year, yet you could find three houses for like $25 on Black Friday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.