Fire Emblem!

Fair, on both feelings. It's kinda like the Dragon Pulses. They're a nice way to get around the "this person died, must reset" feeling, and I actually like it better than Casual mode, but, like... I should obviously be playing on Casual, since I can't stand the idea of losing any of my characters? But I won't, because it just doesn't feel as satisfying to me. And Dragon Pulses give me another out, which is great because I don't have to replay entire battles because an enemy got a 1% crit on their retaliation attack, but it also feels weird to not need to?

Spoiler: Regarding my above spoiler about NG+

It's just the Byleth supports that can be boosted in a new game, though. Gotta make everyone else become friends for realsies.

But also, before starting my NG+ file and discovering that, I'd totally been planning to just do the last mission over and over and over to unlock all of the S-ranks for that gender/route combo.

Also, total aside, but I like that the game asks which "form" is yours, not if you're male or female. Characters in-game still make some assumptions about you based on that shape, but it's still a lot nicer than many other games where it's more heavily binary.

 

Honestly. Even if you can't stand the thought of losing them that doesn't mean you should play on casual necessarily. Casual I feel changes the feel of the game too much. On casual I can just brute force my way through shit. While I can use the divine pulses to fix really stupid mistakes or save a unit from a crit I couldn't have predicted I can't just say 'lol fuck it ferdie you can just die this chapter and it'll be cool'. I actually have to go back and find a for sure out for the character. Like I was kind of skeptical on the things at first but really they solve one of my prevailing issues with the franchise which is having to restart the entire fucking fight because the RNG dicked me over. I still want to have the threat of perma-death guiding the decisions I make in battle. I just also don't want to have to play through an end game map again because I wasn't predicting that the reinforcements were going to eat a unit alive like that.

And that's also just not for everyone so casual mode is around for those who want it? Which is nice!

 

Three Houses is now the best Fire Emblem game because its Japanese title is 風花雪月 (Fuukasetsugetsu, Wind-Flower-Snow-Moon) and that means I can now break out proverb dictionaries, seasonal symbolism dictionaries, and long winded papers about Japanese poetry and shit to analyze it. The word itself is even a pre-existing idiom, albeit with the Chinese ordering of the seasons. How exciting. User No. 3 on serenseforest suggests this as to why the Chinese idiom may have been picked over its equivalent Japanese one:

"As for why they went with the Chinese idiom instead of the Japanese idiom, the wikipedia article might give a hint - unlike the Japanese idiom, the Chinese idiom may also have negative connotations about superficially beautiful words/rhetoric, which could be a reference the true nature of the church, or tensions boiling beneath seemingly friendly relationships among the houses/countries."

 

Spoiler: route names and minor Black Eagle Act II deets

Huh. That title is also just so much more accurate/encompassing, given that it lists the names of all four routes, and ties them together neatly. It also sets Crimson Flower and Silver Snow at opposite seasonal ends, which makes sense as they're the split routes that come out of the Black Eagle house, one following Edelgard and the other sticking with the Church itself.

It wouldn't work in English super easily, but that's really cool to know. Thanks for sharing!

 

It's such a better title, says the poet who loves Japanese idioms, but yeah it wouldn't work easily in English. Three Houses as a title works well in English but it does make there being four routes seem a bit weird. With some even saying that they think Edelgard's route is an afterthought based off how short it is and the English title.

(with the shortness of the route and unevenness among them i'm honestly thinking it's more time and budget constraints and that maybe intsys were a bit too ambitious with their romance of the three kingdoms/genealogy of the holy war baby. given things like how much focus is spent on describing fódla's seasons, how each route appears to center around different themes and even has different focuses in terms of what kinds of information you learn most, it seems like they had something very grand in mind. which makes sense given that they said they wanted the series jump to console hd to be particularly fancy. but that unfortunately seems to mean that they just didn't have the time and funds to manage it all evenly.)

 

I haven't done Edel's route yet (since it came with the "warning: this changes things" I figured I'd save it for last, especially since I started with BE, but now I'm wondering if Church route last would've been better), but I can see reasons for it being shorter. So far, the unevenness with the other three hasn't been an issue, but I'm not into Golden Wind yet on that route. Each focusing on different elements makes sense for keeping each one short enough to make replaying the game feel worth it, but I'm definitely excited for the extra content from the planned DLC (and the demonstration with Smash that the planned content doesn't need to be the end of it all). Mostly the last one, since that's supposed to have more characters and story, and they can probably integrate them fairly well...

Spoiler: Azure Moon ending spoilers

That said, I was kinda shocked that even after they showed up in and retreated from Edelgard's palace there was basically nothing involving the Agarthans explicitly in Azure Moon, other than them having replaced Cornelia. Given how obvious it was even before that (having played the Church route already) that they were responsible for Duscur, I was quite surprised they didn't get any recompense in that one.

 

Dimitri doesn't care much about uncovering conspiracies, he's got his own shit going on. Edelgard has her own version of the story, Claude is a lil Mr. Nancy Drew, and in Chruch Route ur hanging w/ the peeps with all the answers, but its not really...important, on Dimitri's route. Which is fiiiine since the game is def structured with the idea that you'll do multiple playthroughs, but if you only do Azure Moon you're probably spend a lot of time going "wait, what was that all about then?"

 

Apparently I started with the route with the most amount of unique maps. Apparently. It is just what I've heard. Haven't played through them all yet. Lucky me if that's true though. As for DLC...because I'm biased I'm hoping that the DLC involves more beagle content. For reasons that are obvious.

Spoiler: beagle ending spoilers

i just gotta be able to personally get the fucks what did that shit to my wife in her route and not have it just be something that happens after the fucking game apparently

 

Given the Japanese name of Edge of Dawn is Girl of Hresvelg it seems that it is about or from the perspective of Edelgard. I'm personally erring towards the latter. Either fucking way those sure are some dramatic ass lyrics she's got there for a theme. God damn, Edelgard.

Spoiler: BEHOLD. DRAMATIC LYRICS.

As joy surrounds, comfort abounds,
And I can feel I'm breaking free
For just this moment lost in time,
I am finally me

Yet still I hide,
Behind this mask that I have become
My blackened heart,
Scorched by flames, a force I can't run from

 

I found this really lovely cover of Edge of Dawn which I think fits Edelgard's character very well.

 

I like this version of Edge of Dawn a lot. Not just because ooh pretty sounding and the Japanese lyrics are lovely but the heartbeat is real good and gives me like. Feels. For reasons.

 

@Pumpkageist post the skeleton ferdles thing here! do it!!!!!!

 

I am personally responsible for driving this meme into the ground.

 

The ending made me cry. I think this is the strongest reaction to a lord in one of these games I've had. Jesus christ did Edelgard make quite the fucking impact. And I initially wasn't terribly into her.

Spoiler: In terms of ending shit

I get why people are cranky that it ended there. Edelgard's real bitchy about Those Who Slither in the Dark and one of her big goals is ending them. Hell, even the epilogue is like And Then Edelgard And The Professor Fucked Them Up and you don't get to play through that! But I think that in terms of thematics the ending where it is is extremely fitting. Edelgard's route concerns humanity as its central theme. Humanity rising up to be itself and become a better humanity. And we get to see that through shit like wow we beat up Rhea and now humans rule the world. And through Edelgard's not becoming literally a monster to achieve her goals and becoming less of a shitfuck of a person because the professor is around to help her just be a person. So the route ending with yay the professor's heart is beating and she isn't a god powered super being no more and is just a normal human is extremely fitting. I do hope that we get like dlc or some shit that adds on a side story wherein you get to play through fucking up Edelgard's shitty uncle and shit though.

 

Spoiler: Hilda and Caspar's A-Rank support

Who else is going to have a hard time not using "carrying luggage" as a euphemism for sex?

 

I've officially got a problem. We've started up a poem collection. For Bydelgard.

 

It sounds like the problem is not enough time to write more poems yet? Am I understanding you correctly?

More seriously, this is part of why I left Edel's route for last. I knew/know that regardless of the other routes I'm gonna fall for her harder when I choose her, and by golly it's gonna be hard to fight against her afterward. It already is.

 

YES. THAT IS THE VERY PROBLEM.

Spoiler: Spoiling the route talk just in case

I know what happens with her in the other routes already and I'm both anxious to start them but also afraid to. Especially with the Blue Lions route because I know that shit is going to fucking hurt. They all are, honestly. But that particular outcome with her is just...Really hard after seeing the sort of person she can become if the professor is around. Because it's just such a desperate move and it runs so counter to the themes of her own route and arc.

also i am very happy to hear that the poem is part of the why saving her for last. i wrote the thing because i'm like. extremely into her development in her route and knowing what happens in the other ones just. hurts.

 

Er, the poem isn't, explicitly, since I'd made the decision already and am now done 2.5 routes. But it's certainly reinforcing the choice/reassuring me it was the right one to make. (I have been playing this game probably an unhealthy amount.)

Spoiler: Other endings involving Edelgard

Really hoping Golden Wind will be kinder to her than Blue Lions, BL has been by far the most painful on a number of levels. Though that also might be that I like Dimitri the least of the leaders, even if he's decent by the end of things. Just that if I had to save any given three, Edelgard, Claude, and Rhea are getting picked before him. Depending on things, Rhea may or may not get pushed off the bottom there, but Edelgard and Claude are definitely up there.

Church route hurt, but it hurt in the way a tragedy should. Blue Lions... the ending there is just triply tragic. It feels both more preventable and also less meaningful because of how the Slithering Jackasses just get away with it. Even if Dimitri isn't the type to care, it feels twisted that the organization responsible for Duscur goes unpunished there, still, when the Church handled them and there are hints (in-game) that Claude and Edelgard will also deal with them before things are called done.

Kinda nice to see you mention not looking forward to BL specifically, because that gives me more hope that she'll be... well, not okay, but at least better off, this time.

 

Ahhhh. Yes that makes sense. I am still pleased it is helping reinforce then.

Spoiler: route shit continued

I'm hoping that seeing Dimitri in his route will help me warm up to him. I was extremely eh about Edelgard before getting a good chunk into her route. So I am hoping that happens with Dimitri because right now he is the least attractive of the lords for me on basically every front. I've heard good things about his route and development so I'm hoping. I mean all Edelgard had to do was be like 'I have a dark tragic anime backstory and have like super C-PTSD. Also I have the emotional intelligence of a turnip, my teacher.' CAN YOU DO THIS FOR ME BLUE BOY?

Also the BE route split why I'm going to be doing the church route last. Partly. It seems like a nice way of bookending my first run through of the routes in the game. End things with the first lord I started with and see just what she tragically becomes if I pick the church over her. Like I've got the skinny on what happens in that but getting to see it play out is going to hurt.