Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Review)

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Overview)

Behold my fellow students. It's finally time for a review on one of the most anticipated RPGs of the year. This review is a bit late, and most of the population already owns this game. The only reason you're probably reading this because you are either one of the few that is still on the fence or just wanted to see what I had to say about it. Long story short, I was very excited when this game released and I finally got a chance to sit down and play it. I have more than 60+ hours on the game and have played every fire emblem up to this point (including those that weren't released in America). Suffice to say, I'm a huge fan of the series and have quite a bit of knowledge on the game. This review will be a bit long as I have a lot to say about the game.

Of course, if you want the short answers. Yes, this game is absolutely worth getting. Every cent of it. Is it an okay start for people new to Fire Emblem? I'm going to have to say kind of. Now if you want to hear the long version of why this game is at the absolute height of RPG's right now. Strap in because this will be a fun and exciting tale (also I promise to remain spoiler-free and unbiased despite how much I'm gushing right now).

Story and Characters

This Fire Emblem offers one of the more interesting, diverse stories out of the whole series. It also has the most lore compared to other Fire Emblems next to Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance.

You play as Byleth (who you can name and choose a gender for) child to a well known and respected mercenary by the name of Geralt. On a mission, you and Geralt help out three students of a nearby monastery who are currently being attacked by bandits. After the dust settles, you later learn that these three students are this year's current house leaders of the monastery. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself so let me explain.

The monastery is in charge of tutoring and nurturing the young nobles and commoners of the surrounding nations. These three nations are the Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the Leicester Alliance. Each nation has its own house in the monastery, the Kingdom is represented by the Blue Lions House (who are known for their military arts and nobility) the Alliance is led by the Golden Deer (who are well known for their archery and diversity), and the Empire is led by the Black Eagles (known for its magic and culture). Got it so far? Each house is led by a house leader who happens to be the next leaders of their respective nations. Edelgard is the next emperor and leads the Black Eagles, Dimitri is the next King and leads the Blue Lions, and Claude is the next Sovereign and leads the Golden Deer. Suffice to say, there are a lot of important characters in the monastery.

Anyway, one thing leads to another and you find yourself suddenly in a position to become the next professor to one of these three houses. It's your choice to who you want to lead, and the choices you make with whatever house you choose will impact the story and gameplay. Ton's of replayability as each house has its own storyline and own unique viewpoints on the world.

There are way too many characters to talk about but let's just say that this Fire Emblem has the most real cast of characters I've seen in the series. They did away with shapeshifters and psychopaths this time around and pursue more realistic characters. Each character has a unique background and story that you can learn more about through the interaction in the game. You can also feel the diversity within the houses as well. Golden Deer, for example, is mostly made up of commoners and diverse characters. Leonie had a village pay for her, while Lysithea is the youngest student ever to enroll in the monastery.

There are a lot of characters like them, and there's a character for anyone to find attachment too. The game emphasizes on learning, forming bonds, and character growth. This game should be played for the story alone. If it had a problem though. It would be the main character. Byleth is quite arguably just not an interesting character. Byleth hardly says anything and is mostly meant as a character to project your own feelings on too. That's fine if you like mute characters, but compared to past Fire Emblem characters (especially main characters)- I see it as kind of a downgrade. The story is still high in quality despite that.

Gameplay and Features

The gameplay is fun and interactive. There is a lot, and I mean a LOT going on here. It's one of the reasons why I argue that this may not be suitable for newcomers to the series. The game does an excellent job explaining its mechanics and helping newcomers understand the game. However, there's a lot of new mechanics and I find it hard to go back to older Fire Emblem games after experiencing what this one has to offer. There's also a tiny semblance of the game kind of expecting that you played past Fire Emblems as some mechanics are kind of skimmed over (of course I think that maybe just me since I'm used to playing these games) Don't let that discourage you. This is game fun either way, and I'll try to explain the gameplay as broad and simple as possible. I'll also be using a lot of terminologies that newcomers may have a hard time figuring out so bare with me.

First and foremost. This is a tactical-RPG where you command units and fight in large scale battles. This was straightforward in past games (raise units and go to war), but it's so much more than that in this game. I mentioned before that you play as a professor. This plays a very important role in the story and offers way more engagement than past Fire Emblem games. It should be mentioned if you haven't figured it out already that you decide which house you are going to teach at the beginning of the game which immediately locks you in with a select cast of students from their respective houses. Each student has their own unique talent and growth that you as a professor are in charge of. How you raise and tutor them will affect your character in battle and decides if he or she is allowed to advance in class. You only have so much time, however. To put it simply, the game is played on a calendar. Each weekend you have the chance to explore the monastery, go on missions, conduct a seminar, or simply rest. Exploring the monastery allows you to to...explore the monastery. Talk with your students, have lunch or tea with them, cook up meals for the month, learn from other professors, accept missions, find items, plant a garden, conduct a choir, join a tournament, shop for items and equipment, read at the library, donate your renown to a statue, or go fishing (yes fishing. In a game about war). There's a lot to do and each activity feel both natural and engaging (except for fishing, I feel like that mini-game was added for the sake of it). Be careful though, some activities by time and there's only so much you can do. However, you can increase the amount of time you have by increasing your professor level. You increase your professor level by simply being a professor and just doing stuff at the monastery.

If you don't feel like exploring, you can also rest (which will increase your student's morale) or go on minor missions and paralogues (which are basically sidequests that your students can offer once enough time has passed. They add more story and you can learn more about the character too). Finally, you can also conduct seminars. Seminars are extra class time which greatly accelerates the growth of your students and yourself fr that matter. This brings me to my next point.

Each week you teach you, students. You decide what to teach them. Each student has their own specialty but you can each them whatever for the most part. There is so much customization to be had here. Want an army of bow users? Go for it! Want to teach a sword user magic? Sure! Want to teach a magic-user how to use an ax? Nothing will stop you. It's viable no matter what you do. After the month ends, you advance the story by doing a very important mission that the monastery usually offers.

Now with all that explained. How's the combat? It...is...AWESOME! I argue that it's the best that Fire Emblem has been. It's too hard to explain unless you played past games, and there's too much to talk about anyway. To put it simply, they balanced the combat in such a way that it feels more tactical and less grind-heavy. See, in past games. Folks tried to min-max by cheating the system and using overpowered abilities. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but I personally hated that way of playing. Combat in this game feels natural. They did away with the level cap at 20, so you are encouraged to advance classes as soon as possible or whenever you please. I absolutely love this. You don't have to grind as hard as past games. This is supported by the fact that most of your character growth comes from how you teach your students anyway.

Finally, I should mention that you can recruit characters outside your house provided you are an expert at what they like and have bonded with them enough. Annette, for example, likes magic and will join you if your an expert in it. This also changes the story albeit in a more minor impact.

That about does it. There's a lot more to this game, but this review is already taking to long. You just need to know that the gameplay is the most interactive and unique I've seen in a Fire Emblem game. Let alone an RPG.

Art and Music

(This is a lyric video on Fire Emblem: Three Houses OST- Edge of Dawn by Iconicah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4krPY8JKhI. I should add that Nintendo has been strict about the music so you may have a hard time finding tracks online. Keep that in mind).

Art is well done, and the animation and graphics are amazing. It's a major improvement from previous games. (This may have to do with the fact that Fire Emblem hasn't seen a console release since the Wii). Each character also has a distinct and memorable design. Byleth, in particular, has an excellent design (both male and female). These characters are bound to stick in the mind of players in the future. Battlefields are kind of less memorable compared to past games. I liked past map designs better, but this is, of course, subjective and should up to your taste.

As for music, it has the best the series has to offer since Radiant Dawn and Fates. Edge of Dawn is beautiful, and the battle theme is awesome and exciting to hear. There is one track I wished they added, and it's called "Together We Ride". One of my favorite tracks of all time. Shame it isn't here. Oh well. The music this game offers, however, is very well done and should be on everyone's playlist for tracks to listen to while driving. (I just love every sound bite).

Additional Content

I can't really review the DLC this game offers as this most of it won't be released until later this year and going into next year. I'll probably update this part for next year. Just know that there will be more maps, costumes, characters, and story added to this game for later (I can't wait). There will also be a free update later on which will add a higher difficulty option later on. Oh! Buying the season pass also adds new costume options for Byleth, so check that out if you want.

Lastly, this game offers a new game plus mode which allows you to carry certain things and get a major headstart on subsequent playthroughs. I can't really go more into that without spoiling anything, so that will have to do. I'm happy that the game has it.

Conclusion

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is an amazing addition in the series. I love everything about the game, and it's very hard to point out any real flaws that don't go into nitpicking territory. If you still aren't convinced, I urge you to try. I'll recommend this to any fan of Fire Emblem or RPG lovers in a heartbeat. Of course, you probably have the game if you already are. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for the series because right now, the future looks bright.