I'll be brief.
Aren't hobbies supposed to pass time, instead of filling it? What it means to finish a game? Specifically, I almost never finish at 100% of progress games for lack of practicality, but if you consider the games I play, like Tactics Ogre, and their inane prerequisites for a 100% clear, you can see where I come from. One thing is achievement hunting, one thing is saying "yep, there's nothing else left in this for me". Hope I make sense.
Why then does Fire Emblem: Three Houses, or as the fans call it, 100% Walkthrough, ALL ROUTES, keep locking content behind routes? I understand the need to have a complex and definitive experience, with no clear canon, but the clumsiness and game design show another picture. There's three routes in the game, of which ... only one could be considered necessary. Repetitiveness of gameplay loop between monastery trips, fun for the first five minutes, and recycled battle maps can do only so much good for enjoyment.
I felt like I had to play this game just to be done with it and it's not a good indicator of enjoyment and fun. I stepped back, took a break from games altogether, came back last week and cleared all routes. It's frustrating, yes, because there's merit in it. There's a sparkle of good characterization, clear understanding of what makes a good Fire Emblem, but then it's snapped back to reality thanks to awkward choices.
Here's a couple examples:
- I feel like this game is bloated with content, while keeping to a single route and developing that single oneBlue Lions would've done wonders, it would've addressed so many odd moments in the other routes as well. No spoilers, but if you know, you know.
- There was no need to choose the route to pick so early in the game. I hope you enjoy playing the same 10-12 chapters each new game!! when there's also BUILT IN a way to borrow units around your level. Huhhhh let me PLEASE have all units have that standard build and let me skip half the game please.
- Map design is barren. There are probably two or three good maps, and while other games in the franchise like Awakening like to at least present you a set piece, Three Houses really likes to put you through unimpressive ground and grass textures all the time.
These kind of flaws really shine through once you realize, in order to experience the full brunt of the game, you have to play through all threefour routes. It leads to confusion, it leads to frustration; for goodness' sake choosing the Golden Deer faction because you like their characters (fair enough) is paramount to NOT understanding important plot points because it takes for granted that you've played the other two routes, and now you're ready for a third point of view.
I understand where the love for the game comes from. The soundtrack is stellar, the game's very accessible and the battles and classes are very hands-off, reward experimentation and being able to influence units' growth is also very fun. The characters and themes of the game give a lot of think about and offer interesting counterpoints to each other in their support conversations and there's no clear best or worst unit in terms of balance, characterization(except a very dull middle aged man) and build. Still, no reason to put permadeath when all characters are supposed to be important, but you do you, "Intelligent" System, this kind of game design doesn't incentivize iron man runs, at all.
I don't want to be bitter, I think I liked this game. I'll talk about the DLC in another review, at least I'll be able to skip all the monastery chicanery and jump straight to the maps, which made me not want to play the game ever again after 200 hours.
Aren't hobbies supposed to pass time, instead of filling it? What it means to finish a game? Specifically, I almost never finish at 100% of progress games for lack of practicality, but if you consider the games I play, like Tactics Ogre, and their inane prerequisites for a 100% clear, you can see where I come from. One thing is achievement hunting, one thing is saying "yep, there's nothing else left in this for me". Hope I make sense.
Why then does Fire Emblem: Three Houses, or as the fans call it, 100% Walkthrough, ALL ROUTES, keep locking content behind routes? I understand the need to have a complex and definitive experience, with no clear canon, but the clumsiness and game design show another picture. There's three routes in the game, of which ... only one could be considered necessary. Repetitiveness of gameplay loop between monastery trips, fun for the first five minutes, and recycled battle maps can do only so much good for enjoyment.
I felt like I had to play this game just to be done with it and it's not a good indicator of enjoyment and fun. I stepped back, took a break from games altogether, came back last week and cleared all routes. It's frustrating, yes, because there's merit in it. There's a sparkle of good characterization, clear understanding of what makes a good Fire Emblem, but then it's snapped back to reality thanks to awkward choices.
Here's a couple examples:
- I feel like this game is bloated with content, while keeping to a single route and developing that single one
- There was no need to choose the route to pick so early in the game. I hope you enjoy playing the same 10-12 chapters each new game!! when there's also BUILT IN a way to borrow units around your level. Huhhhh let me PLEASE have all units have that standard build and let me skip half the game please.
- Map design is barren. There are probably two or three good maps, and while other games in the franchise like Awakening like to at least present you a set piece, Three Houses really likes to put you through unimpressive ground and grass textures all the time.
These kind of flaws really shine through once you realize, in order to experience the full brunt of the game, you have to play through all three
I understand where the love for the game comes from. The soundtrack is stellar, the game's very accessible and the battles and classes are very hands-off, reward experimentation and being able to influence units' growth is also very fun. The characters and themes of the game give a lot of think about and offer interesting counterpoints to each other in their support conversations and there's no clear best or worst unit in terms of balance, characterization
I don't want to be bitter, I think I liked this game. I'll talk about the DLC in another review, at least I'll be able to skip all the monastery chicanery and jump straight to the maps, which made me not want to play the game ever again after 200 hours.
Fire Emblem Three Houses is special to me.
It’s my first FE game and after having loads of people telling me to start it i finally caved and wasn’t expecting much.
Then i couldn’t put it down, i wanted my students to succeed and i wanted to succeed as a teacher.
I’m gonna leave it at that
(Hilda best girl don’t @ me)
It’s my first FE game and after having loads of people telling me to start it i finally caved and wasn’t expecting much.
Then i couldn’t put it down, i wanted my students to succeed and i wanted to succeed as a teacher.
I’m gonna leave it at that
(Hilda best girl don’t @ me)
The game feels really unpolished in some areas, such as the graphics. However, there is just so much content packed into this game for me to truly fault it in that way. I'm not a huge fan of modern Fire Emblem, but this game stands out among that crowd as a game I can come back to time and time again.
This one is a dozy, and for reference I only played Blue Lions like 2 years ago. It's a good game by all means, but it felt dull at times. Like I'd say 75% of the game is spent doing stuff around the monastery and the other 25% is actually playing Fire Emblem.
Characters are, fine? Edelgard was weird. Like your step-brother is sitting here offering you mercy after trying to kill you for 5 years, and after you turned into a giant monster and tried to kill him. And what does Edelgard do? Chuck a knife at the guy, promptly getting her killed. It makes no sense!
Other than repetitiveness and odd story choices, it's a fine game.
Characters are, fine? Edelgard was weird. Like your step-brother is sitting here offering you mercy after trying to kill you for 5 years, and after you turned into a giant monster and tried to kill him. And what does Edelgard do? Chuck a knife at the guy, promptly getting her killed. It makes no sense!
Other than repetitiveness and odd story choices, it's a fine game.
This review contains spoilers
Do I have the right to jot my thoughts down on this game? I mean, I only finished half of the Blue Lions route and all of the Crimson Flower route, and I am planning on... well, eventually getting back to do Golden Deer, but I want to believe punching through a route is enough. This game took me like eighty hours as is.
Picked this up around release. Was very Fire-Emblem lapsed. I'd picked up Awakening on release, could not get into the story, dropped it. Picked up Conquest, thought it sucked, dropped it. Three Houses, though, people were talking about. And I'd just gotten a shiny new switch.
Fire Emblem Persona started out pretty nice. Customize your class, learn about the deep world, fight some low-stakes battles. I was getting kind of anxious about going back to the monastery instead of doing a more traditional, linear Fire Emblem campaign, but I was open to it.
Then the shift happens, the time skip the trailer promised. Here we go, I think. We're going on a war campaign (I was with Dmitri of the Blue Lions) and this is going to kick ass. It uh. It sort of did.
See, the issue here is that the gameplay had sort of broken down. I was playing on hard, but no map presented even an iota of challenge. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, here - at the time of playing, I was an absolute shit gamer, a strategy buffoon, a tactical caveman. The gameplay simply did not hold my interest.
Turning to the plot to provide hope, I got to THE map. It was going to be the coolest one, the class reunion. The gang is fighting. What was supposed to be the climax, the emotional peak of the game... just utterly shat the bed for me. I, the player, was fighting against the Golden Deer while the Empire was right there. The Golden Deer explicitly did not want to fight me. One of my former students bum rushes me and some emotional dialogue plays: "Sensei, why are you attacking us?"
It was the worst shit. I dropped it then and there.
A good three years later I get into Fire Emblem again. I boot up Maddening. I stream. The friction is incredible. The first few maps, while terrible on replay, are entertaining in their bizarre challenge. I go with Edelgard this time and the catharthis of fighting my former students, their former friends, family members... it rules. The penultimate map is one of the most exciting strategy challenges coupled with emotional release. It is why I play Fire Emblem.
7/10
Picked this up around release. Was very Fire-Emblem lapsed. I'd picked up Awakening on release, could not get into the story, dropped it. Picked up Conquest, thought it sucked, dropped it. Three Houses, though, people were talking about. And I'd just gotten a shiny new switch.
Fire Emblem Persona started out pretty nice. Customize your class, learn about the deep world, fight some low-stakes battles. I was getting kind of anxious about going back to the monastery instead of doing a more traditional, linear Fire Emblem campaign, but I was open to it.
Then the shift happens, the time skip the trailer promised. Here we go, I think. We're going on a war campaign (I was with Dmitri of the Blue Lions) and this is going to kick ass. It uh. It sort of did.
See, the issue here is that the gameplay had sort of broken down. I was playing on hard, but no map presented even an iota of challenge. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, here - at the time of playing, I was an absolute shit gamer, a strategy buffoon, a tactical caveman. The gameplay simply did not hold my interest.
Turning to the plot to provide hope, I got to THE map. It was going to be the coolest one, the class reunion. The gang is fighting. What was supposed to be the climax, the emotional peak of the game... just utterly shat the bed for me. I, the player, was fighting against the Golden Deer while the Empire was right there. The Golden Deer explicitly did not want to fight me. One of my former students bum rushes me and some emotional dialogue plays: "Sensei, why are you attacking us?"
It was the worst shit. I dropped it then and there.
A good three years later I get into Fire Emblem again. I boot up Maddening. I stream. The friction is incredible. The first few maps, while terrible on replay, are entertaining in their bizarre challenge. I go with Edelgard this time and the catharthis of fighting my former students, their former friends, family members... it rules. The penultimate map is one of the most exciting strategy challenges coupled with emotional release. It is why I play Fire Emblem.
7/10