Review Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was my most anticipated game of 2019, and it did not disappoint. While the game has a couple of notable flaws that I will later point out, this is a fantastic game for anybody looking to get into the Fire Emblem series, and makes the most out of the modern Fire Emblem formula by building off of key mechanics from the previous several entries.

Disclaimer: When it comes to my personal reviews, I tend to be pretty subjective. This because I consider video games to be art, and I want my personal experience with this art to come through and be one of the focal points of this thread. On another note, I have only finished the game through the Golden Deer route, so I have not experienced all angles of the story. However, even with just one path completed I should be able to form a solid opinion on this game and the many functions it has.

Characters:
While I did play the Golden Deer route, I have familiarized myself with a lot of the cast to understand who I like the most. This is my favorite cast of characters in any modern Fire Emblem game (Awakening and beyond). While a handful of characters suffer from tropes (Raphael, Leonie) , some characters such as Marianne and Lysithea have an incredible amount of depth and progression to them, truly making them and the world feel that much more important to me as the player. The supports are mostly organic, and the writing is smooth and tells a lot of little stories that point to some of the best character development we've seen in modern Fire Emblem.

Sound Design:
The sound design on this game is phenomenal, and adds to the overall experience. The soundtrack is a positive step in the right direction for Fire Emblem, straying away from the typical orchestral pieces that it might normally have. While the old orchestral pieces do still stand out as good to me, the new pieces and the use of leitmotif builds a sense of familiarity into many places within the game. I enjoyed the mixed soundtrack and find it to be among my favorites in modern gaming.

Three Houses has a wonderful cast of voice actors that bring a ton of life to these characters. They do not simply read lines, they put feeling and emotion into almost all of the lines, creating some endearing and fun interactions. However, I found a couple of the characters to be a little stale and immovable in their delivery (Jeralt for example), which kind of hurt it for me just a tad.

Visuals:
Visually, Three Houses is not going to knock your socks off. However, the game still looks rather nice, and the art style is good enough for what the game is aiming for. The animated cut-scenes are still the visual highlight and bring a pinch of variety to the presentation. Some of the textures are a little off, but good graphics don't determine the worth of a game. The game does have a tendency to drop frames on occasion, which I will include in this section since I have not designated anywhere else for it. However, this is Fire Emblem, and frame-rate is hardly an issue with this series.

Gameplay:
There are many aspects to gameplay, so I will split up my thoughts into different sub-categories:

Strategy Elements:
The maps within the story mission for this game are quite amazing, and probably my favorite part of the whole game. Many of the maps take advantage of unique terrain and elements to build challenging yet fun situations. Furthermore, the addition of large enemies with multiple health bars can lead to some fantastic strategy elements, helping me as the player to be more creative. Pairing up is handled excellently, the leveling is balanced and fair, and the ability to shape how students grow adds a ton of control to the player's ability to make decisions.

Monastery/Days Off:
While this did get stale near the end, it was nice being able to choose what I wanted to do on my days off. This is nowhere near as fleshed out as Persona 5, but it does make for some nice change of pace from constant battles. By the end of the game, this feature had overstayed its welcome though, and desperately needed more features to prevent it from becoming stale.

Waifu/Husbando Interactions:
Tea Time is a fun little mini-game, giving gifts can be fun, and the overall approach to the "marriage" mechanics was handled nicely. Rather than shoving in children like Fates, Three Houses makes the mature decision to postpone marriage to post-game, which is kind of fitting during a busy time like war. Also #TeamMarianne

Plot/Pacing:
Spoilers ahead! This is my gripe with Three Houses.

Spoiler

The plot was extremely enticing at times, and I have no major complaints with the plot before the time-skip. Three Houses told a great story for about the first 70% of the game. While many plot elements were fairly predictable, it didn't take away from the overall experience the game shared. However, the last handful of missions left A LOT to be desired. On the Golden Deer side, Dimitri's death was pretty lame and had almost no dramatic effect other than the neat little dealio with Dedue teaming up with the squad. Many of the late game events felt extremely rushed and were not flushed out like they could have been. The Adrestian Empire's fall came much too easily, the bad guys were wiped out too fast, and Nemesis coming out of nowhere had almost no gravity to it. In fact, during the final battle, I wasn't even sure if it was truly the final battle, due to how casual it still felt. There was no grand finale, and it hurt.

The time mechanics and free days were handled well in general, but there could have been a lot more to do. It got SUPER DULL by the end and was just getting in the way of the story. Because the game felt it was always necessary to stick an extra month between missions, the sense of urgency and desperation that is often found in Fire Emblem was gone. The pacing has few merits too it, and is just abysmal overall. It seems like it would have been entirely possible to have multiple maps in a row instead of adding random months into the story. For example, Nemesis somehow took a whole month to almost get to the monastery. Really? I understand the calendar is a central focus of the game, but the way it's used is just absolutely ridiculous at times. Adding in unnecessary months drops the whole flow of the game in favor of a little extra leveling.

Generally speaking, I thought the plot was great, but seemed rushed and not thought out as well in many places. The pacing is among the worst I've seen in a modern game, which is a darn shame. I know that it's possible to skip through months and/or do them quickly, but the way I played didn't allow for that.

One last side note: perhaps the most redeeming part of the plot was how this game actually focused on the negative effects of war on the individual, more-so than the previous few games. Fates attempted this, but it ultimately did not work too well in those games. When Dorothea talked about how depressed she was that we killed "Ferdie", that's when I truly felt the gravity of war in this game. This game finally got a little dark at times, which the previous few games had struggles doing at times.

Time for a grade! Fire Emblem: Three Houses is not a perfect game for me, but it does a darn good job at enhancing the Fire Emblem experience. If future games are similar to this one, then this series will be worth playing for a long time to come.

Music: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 8/10
Pacing: 4/10
Graphics: 8/10
Replayability: 10/10
Gameplay: 11/10
World-building: 10/10
Fun: 10/10
Voice Acting: 9/10

Bonuses:
+1 The loading screen is cute and adds some charm to an otherwise boring menu.
+1 Claude is one handsome dude.
+1 Fishing minigames make games better.

Final Score (Golden Deer Route): 93/100
Final Thoughts:
Despite some horrific pacing issues and lackluster writing near the end, Fire Emblem: Three Houses has managed to improve on the current formula, abandoned the unnecessary parts, and given more control and power to the player. The experience is deep, fun, memorable, a tad repetitive, but worth the time. Three Houses is a must-have for the Nintendo Switch, and hopefully brings in an even larger audience than the previous games. I'm excited for the future of Fire Emblem!

 

I would like to write another review, this time for the writing, pacing, and plot of the Blue Lions path of the game. Many of my initial problems with the game were removed in this path. The review will hold most of the scores of the Golden Deer review, but the plot and pacing will be changed. Spoilers ahead!

Spoiler

Plot/Writing:
While some of the maps were the same after the timeskip, the plot of the Blue Lions path was more coherent and well-written than that of the Golden Deer. Plot elements were straightforward, executed well, and were written with great impact for the most part. Perhaps the best part of this path was the character development of Dimitri.

Dimitri may be the most fascinating of the three main lords in the game (although Claude is my favorite boi). His dark past is trickled to us piece by piece, until we are lead to a truth that is hard to believe. Fortunately, Dimitri has progressed as a character by then, at least for the most part. His progression from a blood-crazed warrior to a revenge-bent king to a proper ruler. His ending interaction with Edelgard in the final cutscene is telling of his overall character. I cannot do his arc enough justice, so I recommend playing the path yourself in order to fully appreciate it. Easily the best part of the entire path, and certainly worth noting.

The plot does leave a bit to be desired as far as the ending, but that was only because I knew of the secret underground organization revealed in the Golden Deer route. As such, I will not speak on this.

Weird Edelgard at the end gets -1 because that was almost out of nowhere and never explained.

Pacing:
My major issues with the pacing was fixed in this path, fixing the overall score of the plot. The final battle felt final and grand, which I was missing on the Golden Deer path. The month in-between battles felt explained and reasonable in each instance as well.

Music: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Pacing: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Replayability: 10/10
Gameplay: 11/10
World-building: 10/10
Fun: 10/10
Voice Acting: 9/10

Final Score: 95/100