In all honesty my relationship with Fire Emblem for the longest time was just the characters in Super Smash Bros. I would use these characters consistently, but I had never really given a Fire Emblem game a real chance despite the fact that the games are incredibly highly received. After playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses I can see why people love this franchise so much and Three Houses is definitely in the conversation for best title on the Nintendo Switch.
The story in Fire Emblem: Three Houses centers around a character which you name and pick the gender of (canon name is Byleth) and without spoiling too much of the story Byleth joins a monetary and eventually is chosen to lead one of the three houses at the Academy: The Black Eagles, the Golden Dear, or the Blue Lions. This is where the story really picks up as whichever house you choose the story of Three Houses follows the perspective of those in that house. Each of the three houses has their own characters with their own battle styles and personalities and this is the real charm of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and I will eventually need to play this game at least 2 more times just to see the perspective of the other two houses.
As good as a narrative in a game is, it is proved mute if none of the characters are interesting, however thankfully Fire Emblem: Three Houses has some of the most lovable characters I’ve ever seen. I went with the route of Black Eagles so I can confidently say that the characters in that house were amazing, however I did interact with some of the characters from the other houses from time to time and I feel like they would be just as amazing. I really did love my house and I did all I could to protect them when we went out to battle.
This is a good segue to one of the main gameplay mechanics in the Fire Emblem series. When you start the game there are two difficulty levels you can choose. First is the normal, hard and maddening which affects combat difficulty and this can only be dropped not increased so I recommend starting at hard like I did, however the second difficulty level is classic or casual. The difference between classic over casual is that if one of your party members dies in battle they die for good and there is no getting them back. I really loved this mechanic and recommend everyone play on classic because it really puts a real sense of urgency when you are on the battlefield, it really feels like a war. The real challenge isn’t to win the battle, but it is to win the battle with your entire battalion intact. If I played on casual, I feel like I would treat my team members simply as tools and not worry if they died because they would just come back to me. This however I understand can be a real turnoff for some people as it may be too brutal and unforgiving for them, this is not changeable once you pick so choose wisely.
When you combine the hard difficulty mode with the permadeath and with the fact that you love your house like a family it makes it so that every decision you make needs to be calculated because I was refusing to let anyone die. The game does give an ability to travel back in time to redo a move known as divine pulse, but this is limited. However, if I lost a character despite doing the time travel, I would do a soft reset and just start the battle over. This was incredibly frustrating, but good frustrating and I loved it. I would eventually have to drop the difficulty to normal because at least for my skill set I could not feasibly win the battle and keep everyone alive on hard mode with permadeath on and the difficulty gets ridiculously high near the end game. Despite all this I absolutely loved the challenge, but I recognize its not for everyone.
Fire Emblem is a tactical strategy game where essentially, it’s a giant board with characters placed on the board that you can move. Although generally the victory conditions are generally to defeat the enemies captain, the enemy also has minions on the board that are going to attack you. Not only does defeating enemies increase your characters experience to level up, but even just attacking gives you some experience. I know this type of gameplay may not appeal to everyone at first glance, but I cannot emphasize how addicting this is. It may look complicated, but it is actually super easy to understand, if I can understand it anyone can. When on the battlefield you feel like a real general at war: you survey the field, look at how many enemies they have and figure out which of your troops are best suited for the situation.
I had mentioned that you gain experience in battle, however there are two types of levels you can have: character levels and class levels. This is one of the best parts of the gameplay in Three Houses because there are just so many different types of classes. You start with basic classes like warriors, archers and mages. However, as you rank up you can take tests to gain a new class and depending on your current rank will affect how easily you will pass the test for the new rank. The higher the class the more abilities your character can have to help you in battle. Ranking up your current class to get even more powerful classes was the reason why I tried to battle each and every enemy and it was a blast.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is not only about the combat as you can also deepen your bond with team members. This can be done with a variety of tasks in the monastery like cooking them meals, singing with them in the choir or having tea with them. In addition, if characters are next to each other in combat their bond will also deepen. This was a great mechanic because not only would it allow you to see small skits that will help you understand your team on a more personal level, but the stronger the bond outside battle will have a direct affect in battle when the two characters battle together with improved stats and abilities.
PROS
- Amazing Storylines that intersect
- Characters are lovable
- Combat is addicting
- Easy to follow
- Several Classes
- Forming Relationships
CONS
- Difficulty Scaling
- Permadeath
CONSENSUS
Fire Emblem: Three Houses was my first game in the series and I could not be more satisfied. The difficulty and the strategy may not be for everyone, but the story and gameplay mechanics will definitely make me replay this game multiple times to see the perspective of the other two houses.
RATING:
10/10: MASTERPIECE
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