The only reason I'm giving this game a 5 star rating is because of Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea. They're the only reason why I enjoyed this game so much.

This game should not have four routes. The concept of four perspectives in a war is great, but it falls flat when the main narrative is only really about Edelgard against the church. Dimitri and Claude are ultimately not important to the main narrative. Personally, I don't even understand why Dimitri and Claude are lords, because they're frankly pretty insignificant compared to Rhea and Edelgard. That's why the routes are kind of a mess.

Silver Snow is just..such wasted potential it's infuriating. It should have been Rhea's route and focus more on her and the lore around the Nabateans. But we got a random lore dump in Claude's route instead. SS should also have focused more on Edelgard and Byleth, because it's the route where you're choosing to fight against your student, but we got nearly nothing out of it. Over the course of the narrative Byleth is given the option to dissent to the war, to express her desire to not fight, and at every time Byleth's worries and desires are ignored and overruled. The route could have also explored Byleth being nothing more than a vessel in general, but all we really got was Seteth taking the lead. Rhea got done dirty
and that's really a shame.

Verdant Wind is nothing more than a carbon copy of Silver Snow, so if a route got the poorest treatment then it's this one. There is a reason this route is full of unnecessary cutscenes and the final boss being nothing more than an ass pull. The music was great, though! I like Claude's design and his personality is intriguing, but the way he was implemented into this game was just not good. He kind of felt out of place? Claude feels like a character who needs his own game, where the plot focuses on his goals etc., because in 3H they fall flat.

Sadly, I have really nothing nice to say about Azure Moon, since it ignored every story aspect in favor of a half-assed "redemption arc". While playing this route I noticed that this is nothing more than a hyperfocussed Gary Stu storyline that gives the rest of the cast barely any room to breath and develope outside of directions beneficial to Dimitri. Everything is focused on him and his manpain. All characters around him are nothing more than sad looking bystanders doing absolutely nothing. Byleth has no agency whatsoever in this route. AM!Byleth is probably my least favorite character in the whole game. The choices you get there feel like they're straight out of a otome game. You see Dimitri killing and torturing his enemies, leading suicidal charges, dooming his army and taking his Kingdom down with him. He even admits killing innocent people and children and treats Byleth and his comrades like absolute shit, but all you can say as the protagonist are lines like "I miss the old you" and I hated it. Dimitri's actions literally didn't have any consequences for him. AM is just about letting Dimitri go wild while his "friends" and Byleth are babysitting him or are feeling sorry for him. If the characters were given the chance to act and talk like normal people then AM would fall apart and the "Savior King" would look bad in his own route. Dimitri just does not work to improve himself whatsoever. In one moment he is a dangerous, aggressive boar who enjoys spilling blood, then in the other he is suddenly the Savior King and everything beforehand is forgotten. I just can't call this poorly written development a redemption arc. That would require Dimitri to exercise a modicum of self-reflection and act on the results, but he doesn't.

Honestly, I think AM should be a bad end and Dimitri shouldn't get a "redemption". Because the plot twist that you're fighting for the wrong side and go down with the Boar King would be a perfect fit for AM. I mean, the route is already actively ignoring the main narrative to begin with and ends kind of on a "bad note"(status quo still exists etc), so they could have gone all the way. At the end AM felt like an edgy side story that desperately forced a "happy ending". Outside of his route Dimitri is pretty irrevelevant. He dies off-screen in 2 routes and in Crimson Flower he is also nothing more than an obstacle. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I dislike or hate him as a character, because in concept he sounds really interesting. But the execution was very poor.

Crimson Flower is sadly shorter than the other routes and lacks some cutscenes, but the narrative is the most complete and satisfying compared to others imo. I also like that there were no filler maps where you're fighting against some lame bandits. The narrative is progressing steadily with unique maps and without any interruptions and I loved that. You could argue that some things are missing like Shambhala but considering that AM's plot was rushed even though it had 22 chapters..yeah, I feel satisfied with CF's final battle. Did I want to fight TWSITD? Sure, but at least it's the most unique route with different maps and monastery dialogues. Edelgard is an amazing character and the Black Eagles have a great dynamic. They fulfill the found family trope pretty well. The fact that they're the only house that stays together after the timeskip speaks volumes. Also Byleth gets some agency in that route and her heartbeat and original hair color back (which I like way more than the mint green). I love that CF makes you reaffirm your decision to stay with Edelgard, because narratively it's one of the most important bits in the game. It's Byleth actively choosing for herself what she wants, and not what someone else has chosen for her, for the first time in her life. It's the entire point of CF. Byleth making a decision for herself literally leads directly to her regaining her humanity and getting to live an ordinary life. It’s so good how in other routes Byleth is thrust into a position of power for her immortal lifespan - Archbishop or Queen. In CF she’s free. She didn’t just help Edelgard reclaim the future for everyone, she reclaimed the future for herself. With that being said, it's an absolute shame that Byleth can't talk. I get that silent protagonists are popular in jrpgs, but Byleth being also one in a story and character driven game like Three Houses was just a huge mistake.

I'm also glad that this route didn't remove Rhea from her agency. Rhea is amazing in CF because she is not some poor corrupted soul that needs to be tragically taken down. Also we get to see Rhea/Seiros being unhinged (like in the very first cutscene of the game) and I loved it.

Another reason why I love CF is because it shows the emotional growth of Edelgard. Seeing her open up to Byleth and the Black Eagles is quite endearing. She has complex and very relatable, sympathetic views. Edelgard's idelogies and character resonated with me even further when I saw how much despair there was in her situation, where there's an immense ammount of conviction behind every word, drive behind every action, making it feel so gratifying to see it to the end in CF moreso than any other route. Edelgard has a well developed character arc that is thoroughly built-up and impactful where the game doesn't relent showing how her traumatic experiences have so much of an impact on her or highlighting her more questionable acts and how that affects her. She is also a powerful axe-wielding badass with an immaculate design and can be an adorable dork sometimes.

As I said, this game is unfinished and way too amibitious. It was definitely in development hell and should have been delayed again. But I really think Three Houses should only have two fleshed out routes (SS and CF). Because even if they had more time, AM's story would stay the same and Claude would still feel out of place.

But oh well, I still loved Edelgard's story and her impact on other routes. She is easily the greatest fictional character of all time for me and the only reason I enjoyed this game in the first place. So you could say I only love Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea (some other characters as well) and not the whole game.

This might be controversial due to the generic anime story and fanservice, which I wasn't all that fond of either, and the general hate surrounding this game, but I actually enjoyed my time with it, especially the soundtrack. It's so good.

Storywise, it's definitely not the best FE has to offer. The premise was good actually, but the execution failed pretty hard for me. Some characters were nothing but quirks, though this game also has some decent and likable characters who I came to enjoy. This, along with the fun gameplay, boosted my enjoyment. The poor localization and some of the fanservice were quite annoying sometimes, though.

Also, playing this with the Gay Fates patch made the experience definitely more fun for me

Conquest > Birthright >> Revelation

I understand this might be an unpopular opinion, but I wasn't particularly impressed with this game. Some fans love to complain about newer games in the series while praising the older games like they're the second coming of Christ or something. So when I finally played this game I was honestly pretty disappointed.

Genealogy of the Holy War presents itself as a political drama, but I found its characters to be rather flat. While some initially intrigued me, that interest quickly waned, especially after a significant plot twist. Most characters failed to leave a lasting impression on me and I struggle to recall many of them as they simply weren't memorable.

I can appreciate the game's attempt to explore dark themes like the child hunts, but I felt the execution fell short, often resorting to shock value without deeper exploration or nuance. The presence of cartoonishly evil characters also didn't help in making these themes feel more impactful.

I wasn't fond of the numerous bad tropes used in this game, but it's an old school jrpg so it's whatever. However, even if the narrative and themes didn't resonate with me, I could forgive that if the gameplay was at least enjoyable. God, the maps were atrocious. I know they're like that for the purpose of its story and objectives but they're NOT fun.