Flayn. Dear lord that shit is cute.
No one puts the kind of effort into justifying the shit Rhea and Dimitri get up to the way they do Edelgard, which causes a backlash. Double the defense, twice the villainization
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Fire Emblem: Three Houses |OT2| Greetings, Era! Nothing to Report!
- Thread starter kuroneko0509
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Regarding Claude, dude really loses me towards the end of the game. He goes on and on about how Edelgard's methods place too many civilians in the crossfire, and then promptly proceeds to
Golden Deer probably uses those two fights because there's only so many maps in the game and the route would be pretty short if it didn't, but including them still makes Claude come across as disingenuous and hypocritical in a way that doesn't seem intentional, and kinda permanently soured me on his character. I wish Claude's path wasn't stuck with the underlying framework of Silver Snow and gave him more room to pursue his own goals and plot threads, more than the other lords he really suffers from the narrative limitations of the route split.
More than anything, I really just hope the next Fire Emblem opts to tell a single complete story instead of multiple compromised ones.
invade Enbarr, a huge city full of civilians, claiming the loss of innocent life is justified if it can bring a swift end to the war.
More than anything, I really just hope the next Fire Emblem opts to tell a single complete story instead of multiple compromised ones.
The "defense" in this case being the audacity to treat Edelgard as the hero of her own route rather than a villain missing her mandatory redemption arc.
I see this notion of Dimitri establishing a constitutional monarchy repeated often in the fandom and I just have to ask where does that come from? Because unlike Claude and Edelgard, who are both very vocal about what they seek to accomplish after the war, Dimitri never utters even a word about any sort of constitutional monarchy. He never talks about distancing away from the church or diminishing its influence, for that matter. He's deeply aligned with the church, to the point that in the case of Dimileth, he's literally in bed with the church.
The elephant in the room when discussing Claude's motives and actions is that they get twisted up by the fact that Verdant Wind is largely a copypaste of Silver Snow. Especially in regards to the church. In one scene in particular, Claude goes on a pretty lengthy monologue about how he views Rhea's leadership and the dogma of the church as institution that's primarily responsible of Fodlan's xenophobia and the main hinderance to his dreams. ...Only then for him to reaffirm his affiliation to the church a line latter because his route needs to conform to that of Silver Snow's.
So I think his motives are more in line with Edelgard's than his actions might indicate, since his actions are sadly compromised by starring in route that isn't actually his. Claude gets a rough deal, between the copypaste route and his exit in Azure Moon. For whatever reason, the devs decided that each route must end with the unification of Fodlan, so Claude voluntarily giving up his country, his relic, his power and his dreams, giftwrapping them all up for Dimitri before returning to Almyra in shame all so Dimitri can feel guilt-free about his accidental conquest of all of Fodlan is perhaps the dirtiest thing done to a character in this game.
So I think his motives are more in line with Edelgard's than his actions might indicate, since his actions are sadly compromised by starring in route that isn't actually his. Claude gets a rough deal, between the copypaste route and his exit in Azure Moon. For whatever reason, the devs decided that each route must end with the unification of Fodlan, so Claude voluntarily giving up his country, his relic, his power and his dreams, giftwrapping them all up for Dimitri before returning to Almyra in shame all so Dimitri can feel guilt-free about his accidental conquest of all of Fodlan is perhaps the dirtiest thing done to a character in this game.
Are you really equating the level of civilian loss of life involved in the invasion of a single capital city (the success of which would end the war and, thus, further loss of life) to the level of civilian loss of life involved in a continent spanning war for conquest?
Are you really equating a counter attack in order to bring a war to a close to starting a war in the first place?"
Because if these things aren't equal, or even nearly equal, then no. That isn't hypocrisy.
And if you do feel that these things are equal, I'd have to vehemently disagree.
Wars end one of two ways: Attrition or taking out the enemy leadership. One of these two things results in far more civilian deaths than the other.
"This case" being? Because as far as I can tell the post I was responding to wasn't talking about any particular case. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. And if you mean people only defend Edelgard extra hard when discussing Crimson Flower? I think that just goes to proving my poiny.
It's pretty much plastered all over his various end cards.
His solo card says "He was known for listening intently to the voices of all, and for instituting a new form of government in which the people were free to be active participants."
Byleth: "The two were devoted to improving life for the people and to seeking greater wisdom in order to reform the government and the church from the inside out."
Most of them focus more on his personal relationships but say he ruled justly, but the aforementioned ending imply that he was able to achieve something much more than just maintaining the status quo. I also don't think the influence of the church ever really needed to be diminished in the way some people think; Rhea was always at the core of the issue with the religious rule because of her need to keep all of the secrets and truths and she did so with kind of an iron fist. If you remove her from the picture, you can definitely see the potential for reformation without tearing it all down. The "being in bed" with the church is kind of interesting because their end card also implies that they argued quite a bit on the best approach for their reformations, and while Faerghus itself has close ties to the church, Dimitri himself doesn't ever come off as particularly devout or devoted; he's well aware of the issues and he says as much more than once in the game.
His solo card says "He was known for listening intently to the voices of all, and for instituting a new form of government in which the people were free to be active participants."
Byleth: "The two were devoted to improving life for the people and to seeking greater wisdom in order to reform the government and the church from the inside out."
Most of them focus more on his personal relationships but say he ruled justly, but the aforementioned ending imply that he was able to achieve something much more than just maintaining the status quo. I also don't think the influence of the church ever really needed to be diminished in the way some people think; Rhea was always at the core of the issue with the religious rule because of her need to keep all of the secrets and truths and she did so with kind of an iron fist. If you remove her from the picture, you can definitely see the potential for reformation without tearing it all down. The "being in bed" with the church is kind of interesting because their end card also implies that they argued quite a bit on the best approach for their reformations, and while Faerghus itself has close ties to the church, Dimitri himself doesn't ever come off as particularly devout or devoted; he's well aware of the issues and he says as much more than once in the game.
There's no getting around the issues Claude's route has with being overlaid on SS, but I still don't think that has as much bearing on his character and motivations as some people seem to think? When you really start digging, you kind of realize that Claude is really a pragmatist and an opportunist, but he really isn't big on needless bloodshed. While Edelgard is willing to go to war for her beliefs and shed plenty of blood because she does believe the end justifies the means... Claude isn't like that at all. He's very adamant about telling people to retreat, about strategizing in ways that prevent excess loss of life. He knows people will die, he knows he will bloody his hands—but it's more the necessity of a war that he was dragged into and wants to end more than something he seems to be interested in actively pursuing.
His goals don't really align with Edelgard's either. Claude doesn't have an issue with the church continuing to exist on the whole so much as like you said, Rhea's dogma being the issue. And it is! But while Edelgard wants to just burn the whole institution to the ground and start anew, Claude really just wants the truth. He even says as much that Rhea dying is inconvenient earlier on for that reason. So much of what he does when he's being shitty and scheming is because he's trying to uncover her, and the church's secrets. He wants to work toward a world where his two heritages can come together more easily, and Edelgard really doesn't show that much interest in doing the same, though I know there is one instance of her mentioning possibly forming a treastise with Almyra, it's kind of a throwaway line because none of her endings really talk that much about anything beyond Fodlan's reformation.
I guess I see things differently than some because I find the fact that in Azure Moon, things are framed very differently than in CF. Claude gets backed into a corner and places his trust in Dimitri to save his ass as well as his allies. He makes it clear that he's leaving, but that he intends to meet again—it's an act of good will and trust that they'll be able to have good diplomatic ties in the future (even if Dimitri doesn't know this). Which... the only other person he technically ever entrusts anything to is Byleth when he leaves Fodlan, and much more specifically in his S-support with F!Byleth. It's an interesting parallel to me. I also think it makes sense enough for him to leave Failnaught, because he probably doesn't have much use for a Hero's Relic in Almyra anyway. Leave the creepy dragon bone weapons in the land they belong. It's kind of "this isn't my fight anymore" thing.
It contrasts with Crimson Flower where Edelgard pretty much forces his hand and defeats him. He makes no effort to give her anything. Failnaught gets left behind, but not given to her, and he doesn't make any indication that he's interested in future diplomacy with her or with Fodlan. He leaves with his tail between he legs and much like he's just washing his hands clean of it all. I know a lot of people like to point to the line where he talks about becoming the supreme ruler, but that line itself felt much more like he was being evasive, maybe even sardonic rather than sincere, considering we see in AM that he's willing to give up his dream from the inside when he's defeated and can see someone else's potential, and straight up wanted Byleth to take over Fodlan in Verdant Wind. Even in his end cards, he's willing to give up his dreams and his role in Almyra for the one he loves if he sees it necessary. There are some similarities in what Claude and Edelgard want, but I really just fundamentally disagree with them being that similar, and I actually very much so like that Claude has extremely different ways of exiting the fight in Fodlan, because there is plenty of nuance when you really start looking at all the pieces.
His goals don't really align with Edelgard's either. Claude doesn't have an issue with the church continuing to exist on the whole so much as like you said, Rhea's dogma being the issue. And it is! But while Edelgard wants to just burn the whole institution to the ground and start anew, Claude really just wants the truth. He even says as much that Rhea dying is inconvenient earlier on for that reason. So much of what he does when he's being shitty and scheming is because he's trying to uncover her, and the church's secrets. He wants to work toward a world where his two heritages can come together more easily, and Edelgard really doesn't show that much interest in doing the same, though I know there is one instance of her mentioning possibly forming a treastise with Almyra, it's kind of a throwaway line because none of her endings really talk that much about anything beyond Fodlan's reformation.
I guess I see things differently than some because I find the fact that in Azure Moon, things are framed very differently than in CF. Claude gets backed into a corner and places his trust in Dimitri to save his ass as well as his allies. He makes it clear that he's leaving, but that he intends to meet again—it's an act of good will and trust that they'll be able to have good diplomatic ties in the future (even if Dimitri doesn't know this). Which... the only other person he technically ever entrusts anything to is Byleth when he leaves Fodlan, and much more specifically in his S-support with F!Byleth. It's an interesting parallel to me. I also think it makes sense enough for him to leave Failnaught, because he probably doesn't have much use for a Hero's Relic in Almyra anyway. Leave the creepy dragon bone weapons in the land they belong. It's kind of "this isn't my fight anymore" thing.
It contrasts with Crimson Flower where Edelgard pretty much forces his hand and defeats him. He makes no effort to give her anything. Failnaught gets left behind, but not given to her, and he doesn't make any indication that he's interested in future diplomacy with her or with Fodlan. He leaves with his tail between he legs and much like he's just washing his hands clean of it all. I know a lot of people like to point to the line where he talks about becoming the supreme ruler, but that line itself felt much more like he was being evasive, maybe even sardonic rather than sincere, considering we see in AM that he's willing to give up his dream from the inside when he's defeated and can see someone else's potential, and straight up wanted Byleth to take over Fodlan in Verdant Wind. Even in his end cards, he's willing to give up his dreams and his role in Almyra for the one he loves if he sees it necessary. There are some similarities in what Claude and Edelgard want, but I really just fundamentally disagree with them being that similar, and I actually very much so like that Claude has extremely different ways of exiting the fight in Fodlan, because there is plenty of nuance when you really start looking at all the pieces.
I am once again sorry this is long... 400 hours and multiple playthroughs of each route has given me a lot to chew on as a writer and lover of analyzing media.
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No need to apologize, I've been chewing on this game basically since it came out and there's a lot of good discussion to be had.
Yes, he does make reforms, but again, he never gives any indication of desiring a constitutional monarchy or limiting the power of the monarchy or church. Rather, everything we do see indicates that his goal are in the opposite direction, towards a more involved monarchy that takes direct action. Just look at the Azure Moon ending mural, which is all about hearing the grievances of the people and responding with direct aide, not writing constitutions like Claude is shown in his mural.
This gels with Dimitri's solo card, as well as the few bits of Dimitri's philosophy that we do see. He believes the strong should act as protectors of the weak, which is why he is generally accepting of crests and nobility, since he sees that as part and parcel of that responsibility. But he also believes rulers should act on behest of the people, least they are just imposing their own self-righteousness. Basically cranking up the noblesse oblige, rather than ratcheting it down.
Which is Dimitri is seen as being primarily aligned with the status quo. While his rule and Byleth acting as the archbishop is undoubtedly better than Rhea stonewalling everything, the main pillars of the status quo remain. Nobles rule, power is inherited, , crests are the sought-after blessing of the goddess and the church is a powerful central force with an immortal archbishop. Outside of improved relations with Duscur, it's largely same as before but with different rulers. A new government where the lords are more accessible to the commoners, I'm sure, but still a paternalistic system. Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind promise a revolution, while Azure Moon and Silver Snow only deliver a change in administration.
This gels with Dimitri's solo card, as well as the few bits of Dimitri's philosophy that we do see. He believes the strong should act as protectors of the weak, which is why he is generally accepting of crests and nobility, since he sees that as part and parcel of that responsibility. But he also believes rulers should act on behest of the people, least they are just imposing their own self-righteousness. Basically cranking up the noblesse oblige, rather than ratcheting it down.
Which is Dimitri is seen as being primarily aligned with the status quo. While his rule and Byleth acting as the archbishop is undoubtedly better than Rhea stonewalling everything, the main pillars of the status quo remain. Nobles rule, power is inherited, , crests are the sought-after blessing of the goddess and the church is a powerful central force with an immortal archbishop. Outside of improved relations with Duscur, it's largely same as before but with different rulers. A new government where the lords are more accessible to the commoners, I'm sure, but still a paternalistic system. Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind promise a revolution, while Azure Moon and Silver Snow only deliver a change in administration.
You can't just dismiss Edelgard's desire for forging peace with Almyra as a throwaway line. It's the conclusion of her whole paralogue! There is precious little room in those ending cards - they're barely longer than a tweet - so between eliminating TWSitD, reforming all of Fodlan, and personal information on her and her partner, there isn't room to reiterate a fact that they used her entire paralogue to establish. And even then, in the DLC she had to spend her entire A support with Constance presenting a TED talk to the audience of how her proposed reformations will work, because trying to change things invites so much more scrutiny and apparently the base game wasn't enough for everyone. Regardless, we get more of Edelgard's thoughts on foreign relations on record than we do with Dimitri.
I see no reason to believe that Claude is being anything less than honest with Edelgard during the post-Deirdru scene. He has no reason to lie about the promise he makes to repay her in the future or about his ambitions for the future, especially since it isn't the only time he alludes to those ambitions. He has his dreams for the future, but he also seeks the power to make those dreams a reality. Which is why he's so drawn to Byleth to begin with and asking pointed questions about relics and whether the Sword of the Creator really can destroy an entire mountain - perhaps with a particular east Fodlan mountain fort in mind.
And he needs that power because there's no changing the church without first removing Rhea from power, and Rhea is the immovable object to Edelgard's unstoppable force. There is no clever scheme that is going to budge that immovable object, which is why Claude is seeking secrets and power. At least until Silver Snow asserts itself and insists Edelgard went too far, despite Claude being on a similar path, only difference being he was still in the fact-finding stage while she was putting her plot into motion. Since Claude's go-to scheme - aside from mild stomach irritants - is the sudden appearance of a ton of Almyra troops, I don't believe his eventual plot would have been much more peaceful.
The fact that Claude does hold ambitions and builds his power to fulfill those ambitions is why giving them all up in Azure Moon strike me as editorial fiat so Dimitri can have his cake and eat it too. He could have just... not? Nothing was pressuring him to give up anything and Dimitri saving him allowed him to keep everything he had. But he suddenly is feeling supremely magnanimous towards the guy who likely killed a bunch of his friends at Groder and gives him everything as a thank you gift for solving a problem that he caused in the first place. At least in Crimson Flower he is given the dignity of putting up a fight to keep his power.
Regarding gifting Failnaught, while in Crimson Flower it's implied he did surrender it, only for Arundel to come confiscate it, more importantly it fits into the meta narrative of how relics, or the lack of them, fit in to the theme of the different routes. Relics are the embodiment of the crest system. It's the inherited power of the noble bloodlines made literal and that power is what is used to uphold and justify those noble bloodlines in turn. Fitting then, that Azure Moon is the route where all the Heroes' Relics are available to the player. The tragedy of the Blue Lions is that, intentionally or not, they fight to preserve the system that hurts and dehumanizes them all, and use the tools of that system to do so. Fittingly in contrast, the Black Eagles themselves have no Heroes' Relics, though instead they have access to Agarthan weapons.
I see no reason to believe that Claude is being anything less than honest with Edelgard during the post-Deirdru scene. He has no reason to lie about the promise he makes to repay her in the future or about his ambitions for the future, especially since it isn't the only time he alludes to those ambitions. He has his dreams for the future, but he also seeks the power to make those dreams a reality. Which is why he's so drawn to Byleth to begin with and asking pointed questions about relics and whether the Sword of the Creator really can destroy an entire mountain - perhaps with a particular east Fodlan mountain fort in mind.
And he needs that power because there's no changing the church without first removing Rhea from power, and Rhea is the immovable object to Edelgard's unstoppable force. There is no clever scheme that is going to budge that immovable object, which is why Claude is seeking secrets and power. At least until Silver Snow asserts itself and insists Edelgard went too far, despite Claude being on a similar path, only difference being he was still in the fact-finding stage while she was putting her plot into motion. Since Claude's go-to scheme - aside from mild stomach irritants - is the sudden appearance of a ton of Almyra troops, I don't believe his eventual plot would have been much more peaceful.
The fact that Claude does hold ambitions and builds his power to fulfill those ambitions is why giving them all up in Azure Moon strike me as editorial fiat so Dimitri can have his cake and eat it too. He could have just... not? Nothing was pressuring him to give up anything and Dimitri saving him allowed him to keep everything he had. But he suddenly is feeling supremely magnanimous towards the guy who likely killed a bunch of his friends at Groder and gives him everything as a thank you gift for solving a problem that he caused in the first place. At least in Crimson Flower he is given the dignity of putting up a fight to keep his power.
Regarding gifting Failnaught, while in Crimson Flower it's implied he did surrender it, only for Arundel to come confiscate it, more importantly it fits into the meta narrative of how relics, or the lack of them, fit in to the theme of the different routes. Relics are the embodiment of the crest system. It's the inherited power of the noble bloodlines made literal and that power is what is used to uphold and justify those noble bloodlines in turn. Fitting then, that Azure Moon is the route where all the Heroes' Relics are available to the player. The tragedy of the Blue Lions is that, intentionally or not, they fight to preserve the system that hurts and dehumanizes them all, and use the tools of that system to do so. Fittingly in contrast, the Black Eagles themselves have no Heroes' Relics, though instead they have access to Agarthan weapons.
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It is fascinating that here two years later, we're still arguing about which side is better for Fodlan. That's a good thing for the writing of the game. Because all choices are flawed, some deeply so, but also... they all have a point. Fodlan is a continent in decline. A leader who cares about little else than keeping power so she can try increasingly desperate ways to revive her mother. Religious persecution of minorities and dissendet opinions. A brutally classist society based around holy blood. And, of course, the secret mole people plotting to kill everyone with nukes.
Fodlan was doomed. Tensions everywhere, and something's gonna give. Edelgard just decided to break things intentionally instead of waiting for everything to come apart. But if she hadn't, I still don't think Fodlan would have made it to its 1000th birthday.
To be honest, these discussions made me miserable because I got too invested and became obsessed with "my side" winning
I realize now that politics (lol) isn't really my strong suit. I'd much rather talk about how Edelgard's supports are top class or how Felix is an extremely important character for setting up Blue Lion's overall tone and mood
That sort of thing
I realize now that politics (lol) isn't really my strong suit. I'd much rather talk about how Edelgard's supports are top class or how Felix is an extremely important character for setting up Blue Lion's overall tone and mood
That sort of thing
reading through these posts makes me sad that all of the game's potential political subtleties are ruined by everything terrible that happens in the game
being the direct or indirect responsibility of Chaotic Evil Mole People
They're so hilariously bad
Tbh everything related to the base route (Silver Snow) is kind of poor and uninspired
Nah.
A third party with purely selfish interests was necessary for this story to work in the "everyone has a point and they're not likely going to be able to resolve it peacefully" sense. Edelgard's actions look far, far worse without them hanging over her head in the background. Likewise Rhea's. Pulling them out actually removes nuance, despite the fact that they themselves have absolutely none.
Having gone through a chunk of the routes, I've concluded that Felix works really well if not better in Crimson Flower.
In the Blue Lions route, he's basically the only guy that stands up to Dimitri and hints at how twisted Dimitri truly is but he doesn't really have an arc. I guess he starts mending his relationship with Dimitri little by little by the end.
But his arc in Crimson Flower is much more interesting as a parallel to Dimitri where Dimitri is his Edelgard in the sense that he'll do anything to kill Dimitri even killing Ingrid, Sylvain and his own father to get to him. And depending on who you pair him up with, he either gets saved (for example by Annette it Bernadetta) before he turns into Dimitri or he gets saved afterwards(by Ingrid, Mercedes or Flayn) and eventually finds peace.
Getting close to finishing the GD route finally.
Well, Claude is easily the most likeable house leader but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that we're gonna end this route with a God-Emperor on the throne.
Well, Claude is easily the most likeable house leader but I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that we're gonna end this route with a God-Emperor on the throne.
The endings where Byleth becomes the Archbishop/God-King all seem like a real raw deal for them. One of the things that the game makes abundantly clear during White Clouds is that Rhea is absolutely miserable being the Archbishop. Before the final update she couldn't even spare the time to have tea, and even then she spends the tea time talking about how terribly lonely she is.
Curious, how long do we have to wait for a follow up of this game? It's amazing
Last Fire emblem series I played was back in 2001 so I'm kinda itching for another
Last Fire emblem series I played was back in 2001 so I'm kinda itching for another
I love this game a bunch but monastery optimization is becoming increasingly tedious for me on replays, so I've started a Maddening Black Eagles Seminar-Only challenge run. The rules are that whenever you've got a free day you can only spend it on seminars, resting, or any available paralogues. Quest battles, auxiliary battles, and the monastery are all off-limits, the one exception being that Byleth can visit the monastery and use all the facilities there on days where she's met the stat or level thresholds to recruit someone.
So far it's been really fun! Changing students' goals allows you to manipulate who attends which seminars, but there's no reliable way to build up professor rank, motivation, money, renown, off-house supports, or Byleth's skill ranks. With resources being so limited, piecing together a functional team out of the scraps you do have becomes a neat little puzzle. And not having to spends hundreds of activity points to play optimally just makes getting between battles much snappier.
Definitely a recommended challenge for anyone who's grown tired of the monastery!
So far it's been really fun! Changing students' goals allows you to manipulate who attends which seminars, but there's no reliable way to build up professor rank, motivation, money, renown, off-house supports, or Byleth's skill ranks. With resources being so limited, piecing together a functional team out of the scraps you do have becomes a neat little puzzle. And not having to spends hundreds of activity points to play optimally just makes getting between battles much snappier.
Definitely a recommended challenge for anyone who's grown tired of the monastery!
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I just beat the game at Hard Classic, and I am a bit lamenting the fact I didn't choose maddening bcs end game ended up trivial bcs of the min max ing that I did and the DLC stuff that I used
Here's some highlights, wanted to hear from the veterans if there's anything I should do differently to make it even more OP:
Blue Lions route
Byleth: Falcon Knight -- Evade lancer
Dimitri: High Lord -- Tank & main phy. damage dealer
Dedue: War Master --Tank brawler
Felix: Bow Knight -- Versatile/ mobility unit
Mercedes: Gremory -- Healer/ support
Dorothea: Dancer -- Mage/ support
Ashe: Sniper -- Range unit & crit. hit dealer
Ingrid: Wyvern Lord -- Evade lancer
Annette: Wyvern Lord -- Main magic damage dealer
Catherine: Mortal Savant -- Versatile/ phy. & magic build
Lysithea: Gremory -- Mage & main magic damage dealer
Shamir: Sniper -- Range unit & crit. hit dealer
Annette
It took a bit of planning, but if you have her at high magic and resistance, a silver axe+ or a bolt axe+ with lighting axe skill will GUARANTEE a kill >90% of the time.
Ashe
I put most of my luck and dex on him and he ended up a monster with very high crit. If he shoot and no crit, the next follow up attack will most likely crit
Dedue
A lot of people said his utility dropped significantly on end game, but not for me (maybe bcs Im not at maddening), he still take both physical and magic attacks like a tank and his one two punch skill almost always will kill the opponent
Ingrid
This is where the game got broken... I bee lined for A+ for flying as soon as I can for the Alert Stance+ ability which enable me to soar directly to enemy line and literally wait (to trigger the ability) and basically just obliterate enemy armies via counter attacks.
I took me only 5 turns to kill most of the 52 enemies in the end map bcs of ingrid and byleth utilizing this strategy (only 2 enemies left at turn 5), with Ingrid easily killed ~8 enemies each enemy turn bcs of this and Chalice of Beginning.
Pics for proof
Here's some highlights, wanted to hear from the veterans if there's anything I should do differently to make it even more OP:
Blue Lions route
Byleth: Falcon Knight -- Evade lancer
Dimitri: High Lord -- Tank & main phy. damage dealer
Dedue: War Master --Tank brawler
Felix: Bow Knight -- Versatile/ mobility unit
Mercedes: Gremory -- Healer/ support
Dorothea: Dancer -- Mage/ support
Ashe: Sniper -- Range unit & crit. hit dealer
Ingrid: Wyvern Lord -- Evade lancer
Annette: Wyvern Lord -- Main magic damage dealer
Catherine: Mortal Savant -- Versatile/ phy. & magic build
Lysithea: Gremory -- Mage & main magic damage dealer
Shamir: Sniper -- Range unit & crit. hit dealer
Annette
It took a bit of planning, but if you have her at high magic and resistance, a silver axe+ or a bolt axe+ with lighting axe skill will GUARANTEE a kill >90% of the time.
Ashe
I put most of my luck and dex on him and he ended up a monster with very high crit. If he shoot and no crit, the next follow up attack will most likely crit
Dedue
A lot of people said his utility dropped significantly on end game, but not for me (maybe bcs Im not at maddening), he still take both physical and magic attacks like a tank and his one two punch skill almost always will kill the opponent
Ingrid
This is where the game got broken... I bee lined for A+ for flying as soon as I can for the Alert Stance+ ability which enable me to soar directly to enemy line and literally wait (to trigger the ability) and basically just obliterate enemy armies via counter attacks.
I took me only 5 turns to kill most of the 52 enemies in the end map bcs of ingrid and byleth utilizing this strategy (only 2 enemies left at turn 5), with Ingrid easily killed ~8 enemies each enemy turn bcs of this and Chalice of Beginning.
Pics for proof
Dodge tanking is very powerful in this game. Especially in Maddening since enemies are so much better at busting through units trying to wall them off with defense due to things like all archers having Poison Strike to whittle units down, or all thieves/assassins having Pass to simply bypass them for softer targets. But they don't really gain anything that helps their hit rate in the same way, so it's better to just gear some characters towards dodging. It isn't too hard to start stacking evasion bonuses, and the existence of the Chalice of Beginnings / Retribution gambit just goes further by letting you get some damage off of it, too.
Hello. I'm currently on my 2nd playthrough, first one was Crimson Flower, I'm doing the golden deer now. I like the game, but I can't be bothered doing the "Explore monastery", it's so boring for me. Is it ok to just skip it, rest or do some seminars, and keep playing? Already explored the monastery a lot on my first playthrough and was wanting to avoid it this time around. Thank you.
I think you can get by automating a lot of it, especially if you're doing NG+. Make sure you participate in a few specific things though, such as picking a dancer on the month of the ball.
With low recruit counts, you only ever need to be there once a month and teleport around to:
- Refresh everyone's stamina
- Use the greenhouse
- Pick up some specific monthly quests
you can also talk to the characters each month if you want some extra interaction with the cast.
Then the rest of the month you can focus on battles or just semminars
I'm about 35 hours into the game and, while I'm enjoying the game a lot, I'm so frustrated by the nonsensical decision to prevent you from raising the difficulty after starting the game. What were they thinking? I've never seen a game that doesn't let you do that. I enjoy challenging games, but since this was my first FE I had no idea what to expect, so I went into it on normal. Now, the game is an absolute snoozefest, and enemies at my level die in just one hit. I can't comprehend what their reason could be to prevent people from raising the difficulty.
I hope the game gets more challenging later on.
I hope the game gets more challenging later on.
Yeah, the inability to turn up the difficulty is straight-up bad. Especially since most players realize the difficulty curve is what is it is only after getting too far to comfortably restart. You're units are only going to snowball from here, so either take the hit and restart or plow through and up the difficulty on the next route.
I think that's because of the way the game ties difficulty selection to mechanics. If you could swap difficulties, there's nothing to stop someone from grinding auxiliary maps on Normal before swapping to hard with a more powerful force than Hard is intended for, for example.
But it's also been standard behavior for FE games with difficulty settings that you can't change the difficulty once you've started, so Three Houses isnt unique in this regard.
But why does it matter if someone were to swap back and forth between normal and hard anyway? It's not like it's hurting anyone. That argument makes no sense.
Your second argument makes no sense either, as again, this is my first FE game, and there's no way I would have known that.
You're in the right on this. Lots of Japanese RPGs still have egregiously bad difficulty design. SMT5 is the same-- can start on Hard, can go down, but can't turn it back on. DQ11, as well. Pretty much only JRPG series making their first forays into HD games manage to still fuck this up.
In the case of Three Houses, I'm convinced it cost the game the game a bunch of GOTY awards. They reused too many design concepts from a bunch of games that are, like, a third as long as Three Houses.
There's really no need for them to be so precious over the difficulty. Even in the case of the cosmetic rewards for beating Maddening mode, all that is needed is a check that the difficulty hasn't been changed at any point. This has been a solved issue for a long while.
The difficulty options have been a complaint of Three Houses since it released. Normal may as well be story mode, Hard is fairly easy too, and then Maddening takes the difficulty to extremes. It's a very imperfect selection.
If you'd only asked beforehand, anyone could have told you to start on Hard if you want any pushback at all. But obviously that shouldn't have been necessary.
I do hope the next game lets you switch difficulty at will, whether lower or higher. It's single player so just let people play however they want tbh. And FE always has that problem where every game is balanced differently so even for veterans it's not clear which difficulty is the best choice from the start. Hard in one game will be easier than Normal in another. 3H in particular doesn't really have an ideal difficulty imo, I found Normal was a breeze, Hard to still be a bit too easy, then Maddening is a huge spike but is also the only difficulty where the new gameplay mechanics really shine.
My second comment is only for context. Historically, of the entries in the franchise with difficulty selection, the selection cannot be changed once the game begins.
Being locked into difficulty levels isn't an uncommon thing in general, either. More games do allow for swapping difficulty after the game begins these days than there were in years past, but it's still not unusual to have a game lock you in once you've made your selection. It's not a matter of the option not hurting anyone, and in theory, without looking at how the game was programmed, it might have been possible. But it's also evident that they tailored the game under the assumption that a player will play through the full game on the difficulty chosen at the start and it's balanced for that assumption (even though there is the common complaint from longtime fans especially that Normal Mode is too easy). Still, it's not as unusual as you make it sound.
As for some of the other comments on the subject, it's also true that difficulty selection in FE can be all over the place. The western release of Radiant Dawn on the Wii had an absolutely ludicrous difficulty balance where western Normal was essentially Japanese Hard, for example. Sacred Stones has a route seelction about a third of the way into the game that affects the general difficulty of battles for the second third of the game in particular and onward. Fates's multi-version approach led to Birthright being an easier game than Conquest in general regardless of difficulty.
The series has also been experimenting with mechanics that make it more approachable (Classic versus Casual mode, turn rewinding, etc.) that are a major reason for why the series exploded in popularity with Awakening (next to the character shipping, of course). Even setting aside the basic idea of a difficulty selection, the desire from higher ups for features to make Fire Emblem more broadly approachable are what led to so much pushback from series creator Shouzou Kaga back in the day, who took a very hardline approach to challenge design.
It would be nice if a future game does allow for freely adjustable difficulty, but the franchise's approach to difficulty has, at least in the past decade, been more focused on broadening the audience and finding ways to make the games more generally approachable than to offer a more freeform level of challenge.
I'm guessing the logic behind only allowing players to lower the difficulty but not raise it is to prevent people from "cheating" by lowering the difficulty to skip a tough part or do easy grinding. They still want people who chose a difficulty too hard to not get completely stuck though.
The real issue is the difficulties being mislabeled; since Awakening "Normal" is basically easy mode and "Hard" is the actual normal mode. And then in 3 Houses's case "Maddening" is a massive jump up from "Hard" and it feels like there's no proper hard mode.
The real issue is the difficulties being mislabeled; since Awakening "Normal" is basically easy mode and "Hard" is the actual normal mode. And then in 3 Houses's case "Maddening" is a massive jump up from "Hard" and it feels like there's no proper hard mode.
I wonder if I can artificially make the game more challenging, like maybe trying not to take any damage at all or only using the most basic weapons. I've done this before with three heart-challenges in Pokemon and I did a no-damage run of Ghost of Tsushima as well.
Yeah, exactly. For example, a lot of games will give you an achievement/trophy for completing it on a certain difficulty setting, and they all pretty much just check that you've really played through the whole game from start to finish on that setting.
Not allowing the player to chose after beginning is just ridiculous.
Damn, that's a shame that the difficulties are all so odd, I suppose hard difficulty would have been too easy to.
I play more video games than I am proud to admit, and I can't recall the last time I played a game that didn't let me change the difficulty after starting. That said, I play a lot more western games than I do Japanese, and I don't know if this convention is more common among Japanese titles.
But again, I don't see how the game was developed under "the assumption that a player will play through the full game on the difficulty chosen at the start." Just because there are missions you can grind on normal difficulty? So what? Let a player start the game on hard, change it to normal to grind if they so please, and then change it back. There's literally no issue with allowing players to do that.
Cheating is obviously awful in multiplayer games, but in singleplayer, the only one getting hurt by cheating is the player's themselves.
Some games have this issue where segments of the game are poorly damaged, like regular encounters are too easy and boss battles are too hard, for example. Let players go back and forth if they like.
Yeah, exactly. For example, a lot of games will give you an achievement/trophy for completing it on a certain difficulty setting, and they all pretty much just check that you've really played through the whole game from start to finish on that setting.
Not allowing the player to chose after beginning is just ridiculous.
Damn, that's a shame that the difficulties are all so odd, I suppose hard difficulty would have been too easy to.
I play more video games than I am proud to admit, and I can't recall the last time I played a game that didn't let me change the difficulty after starting. That said, I play a lot more western games than I do Japanese, and I don't know if this convention is more common among Japanese titles.
But again, I don't see how the game was developed under "the assumption that a player will play through the full game on the difficulty chosen at the start." Just because there are missions you can grind on normal difficulty? So what? Let a player start the game on hard, change it to normal to grind if they so please, and then change it back. There's literally no issue with allowing players to do that.
Cheating is obviously awful in multiplayer games, but in singleplayer, the only one getting hurt by cheating is the player's themselves.
Some games have this issue where segments of the game are poorly damaged, like regular encounters are too easy and boss battles are too hard, for example. Let players go back and forth if they like.
I only highlighted that one mechanical difference between Normal and Hard because it was easy to illustrate. The simple fact of the matter is, if the developers intended for you to be able to freely swap between difficulties, the option would have been there from the start. Instead, the game's design is around playing the game from end to end on the difficulty chosen at the start. And the fact that you haven't come across more games with this sort of difficulty selection in mind is utterly baffling to me.
Part of this is the responsibility.
But a bigger part of it is all of the secrets she has to hold onto that she can't share with anyone but her brother and niece (who both only came back recently). And the centuries of being in that position.
Even the responsibility has extra weight for her that Byleth would, fortunately, be spared having to deal with in at least Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. The secrets are out. The next generation of power all know what's been playing out in their country since it started. The Wub Wub Underground has been dealt with. Byleth doesn't have Rhea's traumas and, thus, also lacks her trust issues.
Rhea's loneliness in the role is very much self-imposed out of what she believes to be necessity.
Who else agrees that if a Felix straight romance had to be on here, it should've been Felix with Bernie or Felix with Lysithea?
That just seems so much more entertaining to watch and write about than Felix going goo gaga over Annette's singing.
Felix/Anne gets pushed because it's the only non-Byleth support where Felix is actually proactive about his feelings. Most of Felix's supports end with him or both people being oblivious about their feelings. That said, those are good counter pairings. Bernie's A+ support ends with her being onto Felix's feelings for her and Felix is pretty weak in his denial. Very believable that Bernie & Felix would get together. If I had to choose, it's probably my preferred pairing of the two in the games since it works very well and is cute.
Who else agrees that if a Felix straight romance had to be on here, it should've been Felix with Bernie or Felix with Lysithea?
That just seems so much more entertaining to watch and write about than Felix going goo gaga over Annette's singing.
Lys & Felix end theirs still ranting about sweets and being oblivious to each other (because of course they are). But Lys' support actually changes Felix's other supports slightly so that's a thing.
Otherwise, there's Mercedes who is proactive about her pairing with Felix. She'd probably get together with him before too long lol
If their ending wasn't such an unnecessary downer, Felix/Bernadetta would be my preferred pairing for both of them. Their A+ support is fantastic, and it's probably the most we see both of them come out of their shells. Which is what makes it so weird their ending has them both regress for no reason (it's especially jarring in Crimson Flower, where she's shown to make the most progress).
Overall, Bernadetta has a lot of good pairings and I can see her with pretty much any of them. (fake edit: just remembered she has a pairing with Seteth and fuck that. So change that to almost all her pairings are good.) Also, it's weird that Bernie has an A with Alois, but no ending. Let them have a platonic ending!
I don't see a lot of ships for the BL girls aside from Felix/Annette and some Sylvain/Ingrid for the old bickering childhood friends trope. But aside from that, that's kinda it? Mercedes somehow gets basically nothing.
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Yeah, a lot of the endings are weird because they try to be agnostic to which path you choose. So Black Eagle characters can get especially grim endings. So..... I basically ignore them lol
Mercedes gets fucked over because she's one of the gay options so the game acts like it doesn't know what it is doing for any non-Byleth romance.
Remember that Felix gets two different endings with people between his BL and Non-BL ending. Felix's ending with Bernadetta in Blue Lions is fine. Neither regresses there. But yeah, they regress outside the BL ending because Felix isn't in a good place mentally.
I've seen Felix x Ingrid and Sylvain x Mercedes gets some push but it's less popular than those you mentioned.
I mean if we're talking proactive, it's Dorothea but she's also the one he's most resistant to until she basically wears him down and he's like "fine we can fuck and marry" lol
Mercedes is probably the type of wife that Felix needs tho tbh. She can pull double duty as wife and therapist. But yeah, Mercedes is the most likely to get with Felix because of how proactive she seems to be (2nd place after Dorothea) and she basically takes Felix out on a date after their A support.
Got back this game and really enjoying it, but wondering something about Combat Arts, specificly for some range user. I got Mercedes and Annette in my house, and none of them got combat arts. Do mage and priest get some at some point? Notice Flayn got some, but only for lance skills, so just wondering if these arts are just for weapons?
No, offensive combat arts are only for weapons. The early classes have repositioning combat arts. You could train your mages in a side weapon and get combat arts to use. Mercedes is proficient in bows (i have run her as an archer in maddening) and annete can learn to use axes.
Oh good. Thanks. Was wondering why they didnt have, guess its tied to weapons. Will try to give them bow and axe so they can do some offensive damage, thanks for your input!
That was good. I'm not familiar with the song, but it was a good fit with the visuals you used. Editing was on point too
And to be honest... it reminded me of when I was super into the game and devouring anything and everything related to FE3H
Thanks. There are a couple of lyrical/visual runs that I was pretty happy with in there and some other things I would fix (transition from Seiros hugging the Sword of the Creator to Byleth and Sothis merging should have been a fade, not a hard cut, for example). Very happy with some of my thinking here.
Using Byleth protecting Edelgard so I could transition into that lyrical/visual run that's describing each of the post skip Lordlings by having it contrast with her and Byleth being on opposite sides? I was on fire that day. (00:44 to 01:00)
That's a problem on your end. Works fine on mine. I'd assume it's related to the music and wherever you're viewing from.
