It's Fire Emblem: Three Houses 1st Anniversary! Let's put our differences aside and celebrate this incredible game.

[Azzanadra]

Posted this in the story thread but thought i'd ask this here as well:

So now that the dusts settled, what route is considered "the best" from a story/characters/writing point of view?

So originally at launch I went with Black Eagles, and then during the "choice" I sided with the Church because the word at the time was that Crimson Flower only had 18 main missions and was "underdeveloped" compared to the other routes. In hindsight, I think Silver Snow really suffered by not having a Lord character to interact with. Seteth was cool and all, in fact he's probably one of my faves, but it just didn't hit the same way like when Edelgard was around in the first half of the game.

Anyways the reason I ask is because I want to do a second playthrough. Dimitri's route seems the most compelling to me because of his character arc, but I also watched my brother do the final Claude map and that shit seemed metal as fuck. Or maybe I should go back and do Crimson Flower? Don't think I have my mid-point save though...

 

[Anteo]

Posted this in the story thread but thought i'd ask this here as well:

So now that the dusts settled, what route is considered "the best" from a story/characters/writing point of view?

So originally at launch I went with Black Eagles, and then during the "choice" I sided with the Church because the word at the time was that Crimson Flower only had 18 main missions and was "underdeveloped" compared to the other routes. In hindsight, I think Silver Snow really suffered by not having a Lord character to interact with. Seteth was cool and all, in fact he's probably one of my faves, but it just didn't hit the same way like when Edelgard was around in the first half of the game.

Anyways the reason I ask is because I want to do a second playthrough. Dimitri's route seems the most compelling to me because of his character arc, but I also watched my brother do the final Claude map and that shit seemed metal as fuck. Or maybe I should go back and do Crimson Flower? Don't think I have my mid-point save though...

Click to shrink...

Verdant Wind is like 95% similar to Silver Snow in terms of maps and story, so I'd advice against it. Do either Azure Moon or Crimson Flower using ng+

 

[PBalfredo]

So, one year in, what's the damage for everyone? Play time? Routes cleared?

Play time: 545 hours (according to Switch system profile)
I take forever to play and I always want to talk to everyone in the monastery and watch supports.

Routes completed:

Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic)
Azure Moon (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Silver Snow Crimson Flower 2: Electric Boogaloo, feat. Jeritza (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Cindered Shadows (Hard/Classic)
Crimson Flower (Maddening/Classic, NG+)

I still want to do VW again, maybe as a speed-through. And then probably a true Maddening run of CF.

 

[Deleted member 23381]

Really fun game, but I lost steam near what I feel like was the end of the game and never finished it.

 

[NoName999]

I'm just saying, guys, if you think Edelgard is right, it means you support imperialism when the imperialism

 

[Tesser]

If there's ever been one game in the past few or so years that I've felt is so emblematic of the following gif...

...it's Fire Emblem: Three Houses. A year later and I'm still seeing heated discussions in numerous places about the merits AND flaws of each route. Regardless of whether or not I take the time to engage with any of them or not, they're purely entertaining just to see people argue and debate with one another. That is, obviously, when said discussion doesn't spill over into blatant shitposting, baiting and "my opinion > your opinion" nonsense...and fans remain civil in their disagreements. I enjoy the banter, but I always like when a game of this ilk manages to STILL get people talking from a story/narrative perspective.

I'm still of the mind-set that they (Nintendo) SHOULD NOT have revealed the time-skip as part of the game's marketing. Inevitable leaks aside, I thought it would've made for a great 180 - especially considering the general consensus, mine included, was that the game was going to be fairly mediocre. I wouldn't have minded being proven wrong in that regard but at least the journey into and through Part 2 in most routes, was still enjoyable. In any case, TH discussion is still fascinating and I will continue to vouch for Three Houses banter - CF BEagle run will always remain my personal head-canon.

 

[Deleted member 32250]

I don't think many people know this but the real reason why the game recycles so many maps is because they're actually full of details when zoomed in.

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It's probably because Koei Tecmo developed the game, it looks very much like a "Warriors" game when you zoom in. I think it's a cool feature, and it really shows how enthusiastic and dedicated they were towards the game. I can't imagine actually using it at all when playing though, for a strategy / tactics game you gotta have that overhead view.

I hope KT continues to develop Fire Emblem games (with supervision from IS) like they did for this game. I can feel their passion and caring for the franchise, the only flaw with this game is they tried to do too much and the second half feels rushed compared to the first. They aren't afraid to take risks and I would really like to see what they could do on a second attempt.

 

[Deleted member 69573]

One of the wildest rides of this generation for me. You can poke holes in it but it really highlighted to me how a game doesn't need to be on paper perfect if its heart is in the right place, and 3 Houses has a lot of heart.

 

[Ramsay]

So, one year in, what's the damage for everyone? Play time? Routes cleared?

Play time: 545 hours (according to Switch system profile)
I take forever to play and I always want to talk to everyone in the monastery and watch supports.

Routes completed:

Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic)
Azure Moon (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Silver Snow Crimson Flower 2: Electric Boogaloo, feat. Jeritza (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Cindered Shadows (Hard/Classic)
Crimson Flower (Maddening/Classic, NG+)

I still want to do VW again, maybe as a speed-through. And then probably a true Maddening run of CF.

Click to shrink...

For me, around 400 hours.

Routes completed:

Azure Moon (Hard/Classic, NG)
Crimson Flower (Maddening/Classic, NG+)
Verdant Wind (Maddening/Classic, NG)
Silver Snow (Normal/Classic, sabotage run)
Azure Moon (Maddening/Classic, NG+, with DLC characters)
Planned: Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG, sabotage run)

 

[McNum]

One thing I like about Three Houses is that it is not afraid to be a tragedy. There is no golden ending. Your initial choice of what class to teach is going to have dramatic consequences for Fódlan. And you just have to live with it.

After Awakening choosing the costly choice at the end gets negated, and Fates which couldn't let the two bittersweet endings stand, so there was a third where almost everyone lived happily ever after (except Scarlet), it was genuinely surprising to see that no, Three Houses does not end well for everyone. You will get to know characters in one route and then have to kill them in other routes. That's also why I don't go for recruiting everyone anymore. The game just plays better as a tragedy.

Fódlan is teetering on the edge of collapse. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. All you can do is help pick up the pieces and reassemble them in a better way. And what way that is? That depends on the route you played. All of them improve Fódlan somewhat, but again, none of them are perfect. And that's great. That's why we here a year later can still discuss which route is the "good" one. They all are to some extent. But they also all come at a cost.

Just for the discussion it creates, I cannot see it as anything but a massive success when it comes to the writing. We care about these flawed people. Edelgard with her tunnel vision. Dimitri with his rage. Claude with his trust issues. And Rhea who's been running everything so long that she's getting blind to alternatives.

Fire Emblem in general is a character focused series. If you nail the characters, the plot can be okay at best and it'll still work. And Three Houses nailed it. I can't think of any single character that's outright bad in this game. They're all three dimensional people with wants and fears.

 

[Deleted member 66837]

Such an amazing game, was my introduction to the Fire Emblem series and did not disappoint. Every character and their interactions were so good and I loved getting to know them more and more can't wait for what's next

 

[Homura]

So, one year in, what's the damage for everyone? Play time? Routes cleared?

Play time: 545 hours (according to Switch system profile)
I take forever to play and I always want to talk to everyone in the monastery and watch supports.

Routes completed:

Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic)
Azure Moon (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Silver Snow Crimson Flower 2: Electric Boogaloo, feat. Jeritza (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG+)
Cindered Shadows (Hard/Classic)
Crimson Flower (Maddening/Classic, NG+)

I still want to do VW again, maybe as a speed-through. And then probably a true Maddening run of CF.

Click to shrink...

Play time: about 550 hours

Routes completed:
Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic)
VW/AM/SS (Hard/Classic, NG+)
CF/VW/AM/SS (Maddening/Classic, NG+)
Azure Moon (Maddening/Classic) -> for the yellow title screen
Crimson Flower (Normal/Casual, NG+) -> to grind supports
Crimson Flower (Normal/Casual, NG+) -> another run to grind supports
CF/VW/AM/SS (Maddening/Classic, NG+, w/Ashen Wolves)

Total: 15 playthroughs

Right now I'm doing a women-only Crimson Flower playthrough

Top routes:
4) Verdant Wind
3) Crimson Flower
2) Azure Moon
1) Silver Snow

 

[Bringer of Bacon]

Still haven't been able to beat the last mission. Tried 5+ times, each spending 45+ mins of my time. After that I said buh bye don't care. I dont like it when games waste my time. Hated the school parts. Loved the combat

 

[shinespark]

So, one year in, what's the damage for everyone? Play time? Routes cleared?

Click to shrink...

660 hours for me, though at least a hundred of that is just the Switch idling while I was doing something else.

4 playthroughs:

• Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic, NG)
• Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG+)
• Azure Moon (Maddening/Classic, NG)
• (Long break for Cindered Shadows (Hard/Classic))
• Crimson Flower w/ the Ashen Wolves and 6 Dark Fliers (Maddening/Classic, NG)

I haven't played Silver Snow yet and I probably never will, considering it does the least to improve Fodlan and everyone says it's nearly identical to Verdant Wind.

Of the 3 routes I've played, CF is by far my favorite, AM is by far my least favorite, and VW is fine I guess. I think every route suffers from map reuse, information being hidden away from the player in other routes, and from Rhea and your chosen villains barely existing as characters in the back half of the game. But the incredible cast elevates the whole production above its not-always-stellar gameplay and story, and cements Three Houses as my favorite game in the series.

Claude would probably be my favorite Fire Emblem protagonist if Edelgard wasn't far and away the most interesting character in the entire series. And even Dimitri, who I actively dislike, has enough going on with him to be awful instead of just boring like most of the previous lords.

 

[Emiya777]

660 hours for me, though at least a hundred of that is just the Switch idling while I was doing something else.

4 playthroughs:

• Crimson Flower (Hard/Classic, NG)
• Verdant Wind (Hard/Classic, NG+)
• Azure Moon (Maddening/Classic, NG)
• (Long break for Cindered Shadows (Hard/Classic))
• Crimson Flower w/ the Ashen Wolves and 6 Dark Fliers (Maddening/Classic, NG)

I haven't played Silver Snow yet and I probably never will, considering it does the least to improve Fodlan and everyone says it's nearly identical to Verdant Wind.

Of the 3 routes I've played, CF is by far my favorite, AM is by far my least favorite, and VW is fine I guess. I think every route suffers from map reuse, information being hidden away from the player in other routes, and from Rhea and your chosen villains barely existing as characters in the back half of the game. But the incredible cast elevates the whole production above its not-always-stellar gameplay and story and cements Three Houses as my favorite game in the series.

Claude would probably be my favorite Fire Emblem protagonist if Edelgard wasn't far and away the most interesting character in the entire series. And even Dimitri, who I actively dislike, has enough going on with him to be awful instead of just boring like most of the previous lords.

Click to shrink...

660 hours and you didn't play Silver Snow, lol.

 

[shinespark]

660 hours and you didn't play Silver Snow, lol.

Click to shrink...

I have OCD, games take me a long time to play because I get stuck rereading text and repeating sections of the game.

In particular for Three Houses, planning out perfectly optimized free days and plotting out the different reactions to pretty much every dialog choice in supports ate up a lotttt of time.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

This thread is really making me want to revisit the game and do the other routes but then I remember how terrible it performs, particularly the monastery. There's no way they'd do an enhanced definitive edition for a Switch Pro or successor but a girl can dream.

 

[Tomo815]

My most played game ever probably. Well at least as far as I remember lol. I would still play it now but I forced myself not to because it was getting in the way of other things like sleep and studying.

It was my first proper FE experience and needless to say I loved every minuted or my 700~ hours of it. Digital crack lol.

 

[ArcticDonkey]

I haven't played since release when I finished VW on Hard. Really enjoyed it overall but burnt out a little at the end.

I think enough time has passed for another play through. I'm really torn on going CF or AM. Pretty curious about both stories. Does anyone have a favourite between the two?

Also, how is maddening? I'm considering trying it as I'll be doing NG+ to cut down on monastery grinding. I found hard to be pretty fine outside of a bit of a rough start. I imagine maddening requires some considerable min-maxing?

 

[kai3345]

i really need to go back and finish this

 

[Wijuci]

I've played the 4 routes, so yeah, I loved the game.

The first time you reach the time skip and every character comes back with a new look is *such* a satisfying gaming moment.

 

[shinespark]

The first time you reach the time skip and every character comes back with a new look is *such* a satisfying gaming moment.

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's pulled off incredibly well, definitely one of my favorite moments in any RPG lately.

 

[Dartastic]

Yes, do a search in the eShop for Cindered Shadows. It's listed as Side Story: Cindered Shadows

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Not available for purchase.

 

[Disclaimer]

Chinatsu Kurahana, Three Houses' artist, posted some art in commemoration of its one year anniversary:

 

[RocketDarkness]

I saw a few YouTube videos talking to the English voice cast for the 1-year anniversary about their favorite fan art, memes, and character quotes. Wonderfully charming!