Learning to Love Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Detailing my first successful brush with the Fire Emblem series, and how it eased me into things much better than previous titles.
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#FireEmblem #ThreeHouses #KingK
Learning to Love Fire Emblem Retrospective Review KingK

[@FletcherReedsRandomness]

It's nice to see so much positivity surrounding Three Houses, especially after how controversial Fates was.

[@Sakurabliss7]

@Monish Corona Yeah Fates seems to have pretty much been the prototype for Three Houses.

[@leandrocrivelatti4278]

I'm feeling really happy for the series and fanbase overall, really am.

[@MaJuV]

@@Chad_Eldridge and @Gebel The three story routes were separate purchases (making the total cost close to 100$ if you wanted the full story), the two sides had basically the same characters with a different skin, the kinship controversy, the overal lack of worldbuilding / storytelling, the Revelations part being a total mess (with some of the worst map designs and/or clear stats in FE history), etc. There are so many things that people hate about this game, it's hard to list them all. Ever since FE Echoes cleared the Gaiden story of its "black sheep" status, that stamp has been given to Fates. While Fates had many good things about it and still has many fans, over time the bad started to outshine anything that was good about it.

[@empoleon7750]

I personally didn’t hate these aspects of Fates.

[@TheAchilles9000]

@@GamingThesis I understand opinions are a thing, but wow.

[@theastrawolf217]

Since you seem to be a fan of the Pulse, Echoes might attract you in that sense, as Mila's Turnwheel there is basically this mechanic.

[@cosmicmist2020]

TheAstraWolf I was going to say the same exact thing

[@pralenkaman8105]

It isn't basicly the mechanic it's what spawned the mechanic

[@GreatBeanicus]

It is, and I think it was fairly well done despite how many times you can eventually rewind. However it's less forgiving. If Alm or Celica are killed it's game over period, unlike with byleth or the house leader. This actually lead to some frustrating losses in the final map as well as the entirety of the post game dungeon, where an enemy could crit or hit with very low chances and make you start from your last save.

[@pralenkaman8105]

@@GreatBeanicus but it actually makes sence story wise (I'm not excusing the bad design on the turnwheel on that front but) Alm and celica need to actively use the turnwheel to rewind time while byleth has it incorporated into his being as we see in the first cutscene

[@VForceWave]

Echoes was my favorite game in the whole series, having played around half the games in the series. I loved the magic system and classes, everything about it just meshed for me. Less abilities and really fun map design. Alm's whole playthrough was fun, but that one Celica map at the castle raid near the end was so much fun and tense.

[@CyanYoh]

Welcome to series. Hopefully you don't hate your stay.

[@TheOnlyGBeast]

the amount of truth behind the statement "fire emblem fans hate their series more than anyone else" is hilarious

[@sothe0539]

@@TheOnlyGBeast That's...sadly quite true XD

[@olimar1034]

TheOnlyGBeast I mean only the fact that FE fans are very critical of the games, that’s honestly not a bad thing tbh

[@reilie9115]

pshhh real fire emblem fans hate fire emblem

[@TheOnlyGBeast]

@@olimar1034 most would agree that it is to an absurd point, which is why that statement is a thing

[@marche800]

Goddamn that thumbnail is brilliant.

[@yeezymcsqeezee]

Marche i don’t get it uwwu

[@marche800]

@@yeezymcsqeezee It's the infamously strong enemy unit "Death Knight", in the tea time minigame. It kind of speaks for itself.

[@alexjames1756]

Mr. Edgeworth, you should invite the Death Knight over for tea sometime.

[@Reoko77]

*Death knight blushes* "P-professor..."

[@DJWolfHouse]

I nod when I should have blushed. I am immediately decapitated.

[@rtiq270]

The Turnwheel/Divine Pulse is really useful when God decides that this random enemy with a 3% chance to crit really needs to ruin my day.

[@Felix-1309]

Oof I feel that pain.

[@rtiq270]

A true Fire Emblem rite of passage.

[@Aklaz-m1l]

What about when you miss a 90 hit attack and enemy lands a double 40 hit and kills your unit :')

[@rtiq270]

@@Aklaz-m1l I mean I wouldn't fight a unit that can double mine. Every character needs that emergency training weapon.

[@FriendofFantasy]

@@rtiq270 I remember a guy had a 5% crit chance and was attacking twice. Crit BOTH TIMES and I was like "Are you kidding me?" Luckily they did 0 damage and 0x3 is 0 but still, it's the principle of the matter.

[@SnaggletoothOriginal]

“As big class reunions go... this one’s gotta be the worst in history.”

[@empoleon7750]

“Five years ago... we fought here as classmates. But not today.”

[@ceoofcomedy8231]

"...Kill every last one of them!"

[@tobathetura7482]

"no cheery fun time" Bruh the golden deers would like a word with you

[@honeyispure]

fr.

[@paterklatter]

Yep. The golden deers was the most cheerful and had the best ending

[@Ray03595]

Dimitri and Edelgard are both dead still. But agree, it is the most positive ending of the three.

[@frankrizzo7713]

I had the best time with them

[@Akemaste]

Omg I'm saving them for my last play through this is good news.

[@longers1028]

"Spoilers... but not for the Golden Deer route." Welp, that's the only one I've played. So I guess I'll be watching the rest of this video in another few weeks

[@Wonderball_jones]

The spoilers in this video are mostly things that you would already know about since you beat the game.

[@AWanderingSwordsman]

Pretty sure golden deer route has all the information. It's the most complete story even though that leaves it feeling rushed in part 2.

[@Wackaz]

I don't see myself replaying through the game, the Golden Deer route was enough for me to be honest, so I just watched the video haha.

[@maroonkennedy6213]

He only really spoils what happens in the Crimson Flower route

[@IfsoFactso]

@@Wackaz you need to replay

[@MasterEnex]

After learning to Love "Fire Emblem" there is another stage you'll arrive sooner or later "Learning to Hate Fire Emblem in general" Welcome to the club =3

[@laggalot1012]

@@Chad_Eldridge Nothing quite so cynical. FE fans just have a tendency to be very critical of the series for various reasons. But generally, we criticize FE out of love, not because we actually hate it. Mostly. That's really just poking fun at ourselves. Most people don't condemn you for playing a certain way, though I understand why you feel that way. Some people are perhaps a bit too passionate about the design of gameplay optimization of an FE game. I think it somewhat comes with the territory...

[@itsbrunhilda9704]

@@laggalot1012 Well when your series prides itself on strategy gameplay with the occasional RPG elements tossed in (for better or for worse on that bit), I guess it is only a matter of time before people will want to optimize their playthroughs as much as possible.

[@daelightayra7792]

did somebody say amelia

[@laggalot1012]

@@itsbrunhilda9704 Well, certainly, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that by itself. It's just when people start pushing this optimization as "the way you should play the game" and try to force it onto others, it gets a bit less appreciable, so to speak.

[@CyanYoh]

@@Chad_Eldridge I've been playing Fire Emblem since 2003. I'm also very critical of it. I can assure you, that criticism comes purely out of a love for the series and gameplay paradigm combined with becoming hyper aware of commonly repeated missteps in the games' design over the years. There is not a single Fire Emblem game I have gone into wanting to feel anything less than absolute enamoration for. I went into Fates with the same hype I went into Path of Radiance all those years ago, and even if the outcomes were wildly different my hopes and excitement were all the same.

[@mushroomsoda]

when you're talking about the battle at gronder field during the blue lions route, and how you attacked the golden deer house first, it really was the thing that brought my attention to how differently people view strategies in this game. You decided that attacking them was the best course of option, but when I played through my first time, it was my second playthrough, my first having been the golden deer. I couldn't bring myself to attack claude or any of his units, so i fled completely from their side of the map, targeting edelgard's side, wishing and hoping that if I _just defeated her,_ i could talk things out with claude. i managed to go a whole seven/eight turns without attacking a single alliance member. and when I beat the imperial army and realized the battle was still going on, my heart broke. I knew claude most likely was going to retreat, but i couldn't bring myself to even attack him. He was already on my side of the map, so I managed to defeat him quickly, but, as you said in your video, it didn't feel good. But I still got through it with minimal casualties to the alliance side, which, was never mentioned, but I felt rewarded for having done, seeing as how you side with them in the blue lions route anyways.

[@bones9964]

Meanwhile I'm sitting in the middle of the map ballista spamming and shoving old units out of the way to keep shooting.

[@bigriverraiders9243]

So I took the middle in the second grounder field with one unit burning both sides. My unit left relatively unharmed due to ranged healing

[@golfer435]

Go play Crimson Flower, it adds a ton of context. I love Edelgard so much

[@olimar1034]

Honestly the best advice I can give for going back and playing some of the older FE games is don’t be afraid to let units die, while it can suck losing a unit, it’s normally much better than tearing your hair out replaying the game. Part of the Reason some games feel like they have such an overwhelming amount of characters is because you refuse to let them die. The games are balanced around losing units, so even if someone dies you can continue on and get a replacement. Also after hearing you’re review you should definitely play Echoes, it has Divine Pulse and is similar in 3H in terms of how the roster is handled. From their I’d definitely go into Path of Radiance, and then Radiant Dawn. But either way, welcome to Fire Emblem!

[@tuskoub]

I think he knows that and it’s why he’ll never be able to play a true-SRPG FE game. He gets worked up over thinking he needs to raise every single unit when that’s not the point at all, and not all of them have support convos that are able to be easily achieved or a focus on individual character management. I fully expect that if he plays another FE, he’s going to hate it.

[@hylianfelldragon1308]

With the older games, you aren't meant to train every single unit. The avarage amount of units that you get in each Fire Emblem game is 40 but in a single playthrough, you really only need to train like 8-11 of them and ignore the rest.

[@ericsiegel3458]

Regarding Divine Pulses: I don't think it's unreasonable at all that you say you may have dropped the game without them. I think while the game maybe offers you a few too many of these towards the end, they remove all of the tedium of having to redo a map simply because you made one small mistake or - god forbid - an enemy crits you.

[@Reoko77]

I pretty much went a full playthrough without using the divine impulse cause i totally forgot i had the power to turn back time. They never force it down your throat, but then again if you manage very well, you will never lose a fight. Rng is still a bitch though, but im glad its rare when it happens.

[@hamdepaf6686]

I think it overall buffed riskyer strats. Like axes, high damage, but if it doesn't hit it is useless. Well now you can play a bit risky and if that doesn't work out you can try a bit safer options.

[@ZeldagigafanMatthew]

Something of note is how it also seemingly turns back the number's generated too. So that 4% unlucky lethal crit against you will always happen unless you move the targetted character out of range, or murder the offending unit.

[@hamdepaf6686]

@@ZeldagigafanMatthew well it doesn't change the rng, but than it would be 100% boring, cause i can reset untill it works

[@Subvisual]

More than anything I love the Pulses for just being able to fix my dumb misclicks like pushing the confirm button too fast and dancing/healing the wrong target.

[@Pichu441]

Just so you know, in other games you aren't supposed to use every unit you get. You're supposed to build a team of 10-12 out of the 40 or so you get. Also, Fire Emblem retrospective when?

[@ZeldagigafanMatthew]

This is actually one of the areas where I praise Three Houses, it's rare to see a map where you can deploy 12 units. I distinctly remember this one end-game map in Awakening, the one where you can recruit Priam, that you could deploy 30 units. When I only had focus on maybe 14 of them.

[@corsicasanova]

@@ZeldagigafanMatthew Well in most game starting sacred stones you had farming chapters/side objectives as moving units/side chapters where you can prolong the experience and improve support just like here in normal mode not to mention slowplay (staying stationnary to turtle/build support) was a thing so you could always do that if you enjoyed grinding and slow play. While it is usually impractical you could have 30 units maxed out except for the support limits which was now cancelled in awakening except for S rank (same in three houses). So you could unlock most conversations in 1 playthrough. But compare that to Binding Blade where you definitly had to choose which units to build for support (5 support limit) and you could always arena abuse.

[@solarkhan484]

@@corsicasanova but grinding kinda defeats the purpose of a strategy rpg doesn't it. Funneling exp into units is ok but, grinding takes you to a point where difficulty becomes trivial.

[@corsicasanova]

@@solarkhan484 I fully aggree with you and that is why I love hardmode which limit grinding. However if you are a completionist in this game grinding is mendatory especially if you grind supports and you recruited a vast roster of character (in NG you can recruit around 9/12 people before timeskip depending on your byleth). Now where grinding reallly becomes an issue is in the lack of level caps. This allows unit to grow up to 99 level (due to supports in normal the farthers I went was 70). And where previous fire emblem would put a stop to your progression, this game doesn't, making the difficulty not only trivial but it surely make the game unrecognizable you need 1 unit to do the whole game. I still remember Athos from Blazing Blade who could solo last map but that was because he was only available to ensure you were able to finish the last map. On the other hand units like Marcus (the best unit in the game) would have capped out a long time ago and never been able to do what Athos does.

[@Paperluigi97]

@@solarkhan484 I dont get why people say grinding takes away the purpose of a strategy rpg when its an optional feature of the game and a very common feature in rpgs. If you want to make the game harder then dont grind but for players that are willing to or new players that make a mistake or neglect certain characters can train them up, if anything it can actually add more strategic value by giving you more units you can build up and use for different setups. The difficulty only becomes trivial thru grinding if you choose to grind and at that point its the players fault.

[@Tacom4ster]

This was my first Fire Emblem game, Game of the Year for me

[@Lastofthemohaggens]

Worth knowing that in the older games you could ignore the weapon triangle 90% of the time after the first few chapters since a good unit will do well against anyone pretty much regardless of weapon.

[@theadamsapple5909]

I like your idea that there are no happy endings in Three Houses, which I believe represents the strong anti-war message that the game holds. However, I strongly recommend giving the Golden Deer a playthrough, as I think it's the closest we get to a happy ending, with the casualties being mostly minimal and the explanations given throughout. You actually get closure on some plot threads that are flat out ignored in the other playthroughs. Great video overall though! Also love your analyses, was considering making one for the game too!

[@omgstopturd6566]

Yup. I played Golden Deer last, and was genuinely shocked. I went in thinking "Well, how's this one gonna kill my soul a little more?"

[@demi-fiendoftime3825]

@@omgstopturd6566 Played Golden Deer first and kinda made the other final bosses and endings disapointing by comparison -_- while it's my favorite path I don't recomend playing them first heck my recommened order would be Blue Lions, Black Eagles and Golden Deer as Golden Deer answers alot of mysteries in the other 2 paths. As for the church path skip it as it's basicly the bad ending along with the fact that it goes through similar motions to Golden Deer but instead of haveing the Charismatic and Fun Golden Deer house as your secondary charicters you get the boring as fuck Green Haired Guy and his Weirdo younger Sister

[@Wutz_]

@@demi-fiendoftime3825 did u just diss seteth and flayn? Damn bro

[@demi-fiendoftime3825]

niko What Seteth is a masive stick in the mudd and Flayn is just weird and her eyes look dead and creepy to me for some reason

[@atino7169]

*SPOILERS FOR GOLDEN DEER ROUTE* I played GD first, and it struck me as odd that in the other routes you could spare Claude. In his own route, the other two leaders die. Everything has to be rebuilt basically from scratch. I enjoyed how even though it is, how I see it at least, the true ending, it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Excellent anti-war ideas in addition to tackling xenophobia and racism in a much more clear light than I felt the other routes did. Prejudice has reasons behind it, but everyone can start accepting each other if we show each other who we really are...after all, that's how we'll win, right?

[@Steelbleeder]

100% reccomend playing fire emblem echoes, while there isn't exactly marriage managing there's still fully voice acted supports and come characters do get together in the end

[@rances4418]

While that is true personally i felt the supports were severely lacking and the map design to be absolutely terrible.

[@onadaTotihotiH]

Rance part of the reason that the supports were lacking was a byproduct of them trying to keep it as faithful to Gaiden as possible, back when they didn’t have nearly as many of them and they weren’t as detailed and whatnot as the later ones.

[@mcspankys]

Rance To be fair it’s a faithful remake of a famicom game

[@rances4418]

Gabriel Aguilar They fleshed out the story could’ve added some good supports. Also don’t get me started on the original character they added for the game Faye. People like to act like echoes is some hidden gem and the only reason why it didn’t do well was because of “lack of waifus” when in reality the game was always destined to be black sheep of the franchise.

[@nuibaba280]

@Rance Nah Echoes is good and long got out of its black sheep phase. That's basically Fates at this point. Echoes is flawed but the supports suffered because of full voice acting and the game was confirmed to be on a low budget and was entirely meant to experiment with Fates' engine.

[@pralenkaman8105]

"Except golden deer route spoilers" Ah I see you saved the best house for last To prevent unwanted comments: this comment was a joke because I'm biased towards golden deer because it was my first house... Plus who doesn't like claude

[@Jonas_TGCW]

The best route? The reveal of a certain villain was 10 times better in the blue lions route and the death of a certain character was also just off screen. You were only told about him dying like it was nothing. Obviously that's just my opinion. :) But it felt a bit "rushed" at some points. :)

[@pralenkaman8105]

@@Jonas_TGCW spoilers for those who are just scrolling through this comment thread just a warning to those who haven't finished the game yeah but the finally was by far the best imo I mean nemesis was a big part of the story and he only really appears in the golden deer route, plus claude... I know it's a bad point but claude is best boy And the cast for the golden deer is the best cast in my opinion But yes there was that one glaring flaw in the death of Dimitri being off screen And edelgard being revealed to be the flame emperor is in it's best in blue lions route but that's to be expected because that's the major plot twist of part 1 and the reveal on how Dimitri turned out to be the way he was post time skip But other than that yes it may not be the best route for some but I think the first route someone has played will end up being their favorite route

[@Jordan3DS]

I found Claude's route to be the best, but Dmitri's felt the most canon Golden Deer has the best written lord, the only unique final map/final map theme, had you defeat both Edelgard as well as the Agarthans, etc Blue Lions has characters with the most connection to certain events (like Ashe with Lonato, Sylvain with his brother, Mercedes with the Death Knight, and Dmitri with Edelgard), the lord with the greatest sense of development, and the "happiest" ending, since Dmitri and Claude both get to live as kings of their respective countries, with Byleth as the leader of the church. Black Eagles was a neat "join the bad guys" route, but I didn't find it as engaging as the other two,

[@pralenkaman8105]

@@Jordan3DS I get what you are saying with blue lions being the most canon But I have to disagree the golden deer route covers plot holes that never got answered with those who slither in the dark being the main event and especially nemesis since we didn't get to see much of him I didn't speak about rhea's true identity because I'm almost sure that they reveal that in the black eagles route and I don't remember if she said who she was in blue lions route So I can see both blue lions and golden deer being "Canon" routes but the truth is that all the houses were really made to feel Canon unlike fates which had revelation which was basicly the happy ending and the story that finally revealed who corrin and azura were

[@Jordan3DS]

@@pralenkaman8105 I have a theory that they're going to make another game set in Fodlan, since Fire Emblem games almost always come in pairs, and I doubt they would have put so much effort into the worldbuilding and lore of Three Houses for just one game. If they were to do that, I could see them probably going for "Claude's route is canon" since, as you say, you wipe out the Agarthans in that route, and I don't think that they would backpedal and make Dmitri's route canon as then they'd have to either make some excuse about the Agarthans being killed after the fact (like in Edelgard's route) or saying that they kept thriving in the shadows, which would feel anticlimactic.

[@leandrocrivelatti4278]

This is the most positive reception I've seen a game in this franchise get since becoming entangled with it, I'm glad more people are getting the elegant beauty it's built on top of simplicity all over these years.

[@Rookie694]

This got me hooked. Seems like I have to buy Three Houses now :D

[@RussJS]

I love it. 65 hours for my first run and I’m starting new game + on hard mode. 3 more routes to go. (2 routs in black eagle)

[@oscelios2703]

You wont regret it

[@GodLandon]

Bought it on a whim one day and while I haven’t touched it in about a week and am only a few chapters in I really am enjoying it

[@Summer_turtle_]

Just finished my black eagles play through and just starting my golden deer play through this game is great definetly worth it

[@Adamaag12]

Good:)

[@Sakurabliss7]

Welcome to the series! Three Houses truly is a great game, and an excellent gateway game into the series! I initially expected the standard FE game, but the story and characters are so engrossing that it's crazy! The Blue Lions route was the first game to make me cry, like damn, these characters were like my children! Seeing them overcome their struggles and hardships and work to make a brighter future has never felt so rewarding. All the routes are great, and they're all worth experiencing since they're pretty much different story lines. Glad you picked it up!

[@theulmitter5725]

This is my first fire emblem game, and I've played it for 165 hours 😂

[@dallaynavokan5513]

Yeah, me too. Been thinking about it as well and I think that, more than anything, it's the sheer amount of absolutely brilliant characterization. I mean, even the most "basic" of character archtypes either have some character development/trait that totally undercuts that trope or are done so believably that you actually wind up completely forgetting about the clique whenever one of their scenes comes up. Example: Look at Bernie. Total trope at first glance and then you find out about her background and you still find yourself rooting for this girl. Or Sylvain. Complete and utter one-dimensional douche bag. Even after finding out about the one-dimensional reason as to *why* he is the way that he is, you still can't help but start kind of feeling for the guy. The characters were just very well thought out and the actors they got were just so phenomenal that you can't help but get drawn in if you pay even the slightest amount of attention to any of it. And, I was thinking this pre time-skip but... My *god* do those actors dial up their performances afterwards!!!!! I mean, just hearing the changes in their voices sells that lost time so well. Toss in the way the game almost seamlessly slips back and forth between time management, exploration, plot development and game play and.... yeah, they definitely turned out a winner here. Hell, even the plot and the game play itself being turn based mesh! (The rise and fall of empires and civilizations is just soooooo not a button mashing kind of plot!) But, yeah, none of that would be even noticed if it weren't for the great characterization and brilliant performances to pull you in.

[@arcanekitsune4202]

As someone who has played two other FE games beforehand, I like how they use common FE archetypes and build on them and make the characters complex.

[@sarapoda]

@@dallaynavokan5513 This is such a good comment and I totally agree four years later. Also same on it being my first fire emblem game and I've got hundreds of hours in it.

[@smashbrother8696]

For future attempts at past FE games I’d recommend not trying to use everyone and instead stick with a core team, and save the rest of replays or specific situations where you may need them. It’s much smoother that way.

[@gregg_rulz0k824]

I'd say with the older games the big difference as far as unit management and not getting overwhelmed with the amount of units is to just have your core units and stick to them with each playthrough and just let the rest stay on the bench. Like in three houses it limits the amount for you by each house so you don't get overwhelmed but in the older games you just gotta figure out which units proform the best/like the best if you have the experience to baby them if they don't proform too well and stick to them. (also use save states just limitedly it's not cheating you've seen divine pulse intsys KNOW)

[@PhoenixRiseinFlame]

This game is absolutely incredible! It’s my first FE game and I’m hooked. You really get your money’s worth with this game. Four paths requiring for different play throughs (each of which requires around 60 hours to complete). Additionally, there is a separate DLC campaign as well. I’d absolutely recommend! Blue Lions for life!

[@airbiscuit8599]

Blue Lions for life!

[@Thedanclan776]

There is actually a second black eagles route if you don't team up with Edelgard. It doesn't put you on Blue Lions route or Golden Deer but a 4th unique route not aligned with any houses post time skip

[@tgr3423]

Holy shit KingK, these were my exact thoughts on Three Houses. My personal story on the Second Battle of Gronder Fields was rushing Edelgard's forces as the Blue Lions. I absolutely, under every circumstance, refused to fight the Golden Deer. I hoped in my heart, every second the battle raged on, with people dying left and right, students I had come to become involved with and bonded with crying out in anguish, that I could avoid confrontation somehow. That maybe all I had to do was talk to Claude or some of the other units to let them know I was on their side, that Edelgard was our mutual enemy. I was absolutely, completely devastated when I wiped out all of Edelgard's army without coming into contact with the Alliance army and truly understood what it meant by "Defeat both commanders". There wasn't a choice. This was war. And in that chaos, everyone was out for blood.

[@redviolet5158]

This video and comment make me feel really bad, because I somehow managed to clear that map having only killed bernie (which was an attack on my very soul, did you really have to crit her Dimitri). The stars aligned and all the other units I attacked retreated. Claude extended super far so I didn't even have to fight any of the GD units, save Hilda who can't die. It probably helped that I was playing on normal, and I had already recruited Leonie. Maybe my experience wasn't all that unique.

[@boshwa20]

Spoilers, unless you already did Golden Deer The second battle at Gronder Field during my Golden Deer run was terrible with the context, but during my Blue Lion playthrough I was excited because the context wouldn't really allow the Kingdom and Alliance to fight each other on Gronder Field. Then the messenger died. And I spent 2 minutes panicking.

[@LordWallace]

Your perspective is pretty sobering to a hardened and cynical veteran like myself. Three Houses is generally regarded as a fairly easy entry by the community even on Hard mode, so you can imagine how foreign it sounded to me when I heard you say that Normal mode was challenging for you. It really shows how disconnected the core community can be from the average gamer that doesnt necessarily breathe and live Fire Emblem, for whom this game can actually present a daunting challenge. One could even make the arguement that the game isnt actually that easy, the community has just gotten too good at Fire Emblem. And as you may have guessed that same core community including myself are really not fond of Divine Pulse/Mila's Turnwheel at all, even if we've mostly gotten over Casual mode being a thing since that's at least optional without self imposed restrictions. Nevertheless, I'm really glad you finally got past your barrier with this series which might be my favorite game series ever.

[@Erik-gp3il]

Tbh, as a noob who sucks at strategy games and who's only ever played Birthright and Three Houses, I actually think Normal is too easy. The only time I came close to running out of Divine Pulses and failing was when I made the dumb decision to fight the Death Knight in Chapter 6. I don't know whether Verdant Wind is the easiest route and all the others are a lot harder but I regretted picking Normal and not realising you can't increase the difficulty. The story and game as a whole was good regardless, but Divine Pulse just gets dumb as fuck too fast. Having more than 5 rewinds is ridiculous on Normal. I could spam it without care every time I made even a minor mistake that I could have easily recovered from and still didn't use them all on any map but Chapter 6. It's fine as a mechanic, but honestly 10 rewinds is just way overboard for anything except probably Maddening. Normal should be considered 'Easy' imo. I'll definitely be playing on Hard if not Maddening for my next playthrough.

[@alexthorne1416]

As someone who has half finished two older FE games this one is sticking with me. I’m on hard mode for now, maybe a harder mode for a later house run through, and I’ve restricted Divine Pulses to be used for experimenting with the Death Knight early on (which god no) and fixing mistakes immediately after making them, like forgetting to use a Vulnery and just ending turn. Just beat Chapter 6, one death, gonna see how it goes

[@Indiana_James99]

This game has quickly become one of my favorite games of all time, and I absolutely love how it’s introducing the tactics genre to many relative newcomers like yourself.

[@amberorion1549]

I went through the Black Eagle route with Edelgarde, and haven't had the heart to go into any of the other routes. This game crushed me emotionally and morally.

[@shwaig1]

This fucking game, man. Never have I gotten so much enjoyment and heartbreak out of a $60 package. Can't wait to start my third playthrough.

[@formlessoedon3929]

I'm expecting a 20 minute Video titled "How I learned to love Claude" cause how could you do my boy dirty like this! But welcome to the club, we hope you enjoy your stay in the FE community.

[@isaacazmee9930]

Fire Emblem Three Houses taught me about the reality of war, that there is no happy ending because until the war is over there will always be sacrifices to be made, better than any other fps war games whilst still feeling like a game.

[@petery6432]

Yeah, even in Verdant Wind, which has arguably the happiest ending of the 4 routes, still has a lot of death. (Spoiler warning) Dimitri still goes insane and you still kill most of the other house members.

[@golfer435]

The only game that has come close to that for me outside of 3H is Spec Ops The Line

[@tmbocelot]

I appreciate hearing about divine pulse and how essential it was for someone new to this game and genre

[@VulturePilot]

Been with Fire Emblem since Sacred Stones in 2004, having a blast with Three Houses 35 hours in about to hit chapter 11 with the Black Eagles 🦅

[@josephagnetti8921]

I've never been able to get into a Fire Emblem game. So maybe I should try this one.

[@prestononuselogu9973]

Did u like it

[@Chaiberry]

Since you like Three Houses, I think you would definitely enjoy Echoes! Echoes is the closest in style and direction to Three Houses, and it's also the only other fully-voiced game in the series. The characters in Echoes are just as good as they are in Three Houses, and the game also includes a Divine Pulse and gets rid of the weapon triangle

[@Jordan3DS]

After reading some of the Echoes supports/dialogue the other day, I would say that the characters and writing are even better than they are in Three Houses. Three Houses is still good, but Echoes had an absolutely incredible writer and localization.

[@nuibaba280]

@Jordan3D Fair, I'm biased asf to the Echoes cast

[@VerkatosEnsei]

The beauty of this game is that there being no truly unified ending means that your actions have weight, something that is oh so incredibly important in a game and a story where your choices and allegiances matter. The game makes no pretense: _war is hell_. And everyone has their own reasons to fight. I did the Golden Deer playthrough before doing the Blue Lions, and I grew to love those rascals. I even romanced Leonie (though this was mostly 'cause I really wanted Hilda to be with Claude, otherwise...). Come my next playthrough, in the Blue Lions, where I was then _forced_ to cut down Leonie, as well as Raphael. For the first time in quite a long, long while, that actually pained me. It made me cry. But I had to do it. They were just caught up in war, only this time I had to fight against them. All of the playable characters are all believable people with their own ideals and beliefs, all fighting for a cause, all just caught up in war. A lot of them are good, and some of them are good but have some vices, leaving them to be a little morally grey. I believed in these characters, and they felt all the more real to me. Even the more morally complex ones, where I know they face great difficulty with the choices they make, but it's all for the sake of a greater ideal. I can't get enough of this game. I really can't. I really, really enjoyed this game.

[@Rafael_1695]

No better thing to relax than watching a KingK video about a series you love. That video made me tear up again and kinda regret taking so much students in in my second playthrough , cause it will probably dim down the feels I will get at that "reunion" battle as blue lions.

[@genuineangusbeef8697]

Big fire emblem nerd raiding the comments to talk about this video and comment on stuff. You jumped head first into three of the most complicated fire emblem games. You aren't wrong in thinking they're tough to penetrate: the only reason Three Houses isn't among them is because of the forgiveness involved with the divine pulse, and Battalions and Combat Arts are deceptively simple in many cases; Gambits and Monsters are the two biggest factors in complexity , and both are ignored or left on the back burner until the midgame. A recommendation I'll give for a previous game to look into is FE 7. It's much more simple than 3 houses, featuring no battalions, Gambits, Combat Arts, or Gauntlets, and has absolutely no tutoring mechanics. It takes many of the basic concepts in FE and boils them down a lot better, and is what I'd recommend as a first game to anyone interested in the tactics of the game. And if emulated, you can get the bonus of making your own divine pulse effectively possible, albeit with a bit of extra clunkiness, in the form of save states. Its also a game with notably good map design across the board. Speaking of the Divine Pulse, many agree that it's one of the best things to happen for the series thus far: the only complaint is how many you get, and you even touch on that yourself. In terms of Units, in older FE games, your pretty much supposed to leave units on the bench. You get several over the course of the game, but by no means are you intended to use everyone. Later games gave unlimited grinding maps on easier difficulties mostly to serve the desire to grind out support conversations. The big weakness in this approach, and one that 3H absolutely makes better, is objectivity. In the previous games, the context of a unit is static across all playthroughs. You'll always get them at the same times, no matter what, and that makes the choice of units strained. Unless you specifically feel like gimping yourself, using dropping a familiar unit on a repeat playthrough can feel like cutting your own leg off, and it can feel near impossible without them. In 3H, the units you start with are different depending on the house, and that reframes a units strengths. Marianne is the example of this. In the golden deer route, you start out with her, and her healing is really the only positive she has, and her bonus in Swords doesn't look appealing if she's just going to use Magic all the time anyway. But if you recruit her to your house in another route, she'll likely have the sword rank to instantly use the Levin Sword, a powerful magic weapon that is eaily the best way to utilize that rank. But if you do so, her E rank in Lances will be far too low to make training her hidden Lance talent useful, and that makes the option of making her a Pegasus near impossible, while in Golden Deer it's absolutely possible, and Frozen Lance makes her arguably the best at the role if you have someone else to heal. It's a mechanism I adore. Lastly, some plot stuff. This game has the best plot of any game that's had a western release thus far, easily. It takes inspiration from the Jugdral games, which were only released in Japan, which overall is a 2 half story where part one is relatively light hearted with little tension, an absolutely blind-siding event occurs with a time skip, and a treacherous and far more gritty second half takes hold. 3H takes tons of inspiration from that story, but has far better gameplay elements to back it up and far more interesting story implications because of its branching paths. Edelgard herself is a near perfect analouge to the main Villian of that duology, while Dimitri is an analouge to a series troupe of morally gray paladins who are blinded by their sense of duty. The church is handled super well, with aspects of faith that are good and bad, and with how faith and reason in balance are both very important, and how a blind spot in either can be what makes you a monster. The worst part is probably those who slither and their conclusion, but they still are ahead of some other of their ilk that FE has to offer. For a final note, some other FE games I'd recommend. FE is a franchise where there isn't one best game, rather each game has strikingly polar pros and cons. The closest to a balanced and solid game is FE 7. Others show different strengths of the formula: FE 8 (Sacred Stones, GBA) has great character writing, FEs 9 & 10 have epic stories, FE Echoes has a lot of similar quirks to 3H like their own divine pulse and no weapon triangle as well as arguably even better voice acting than 3H, and so on. The only Japan exclusive games worth experiencing with all the Remakes out is the Jugdral duology, which if you don't mind emulation have fully featured patches: FE 4 has a grand story similar to 3H in many ways, while FE 5 Thracia feels like playing through a war would in real life, with a down to earth struggle full of unpredictable bullshit. So that went really long, but hell! Golden Deer is the best house, and if you read this, have fun playing it,and loved to see your take.

[@Jordan3DS]

I'm glad that I'm seeing a lot of Golden Deer love around the internet. It seemed like before release, everyone was picking Edelgard's route because "my waifu", but now it seems like Golden Deer is the most popular followed by Blue Lions. While I thought that Three Houses' plot was really good, I still think that Path of Radiance created one of the best fully realized worlds in the series (which Radiant Dawn proceeded to shit all over, but I digress), and Echoes absolutely nailed the story that it had to work with. I think there were a bit too many cheesy, anime trope moments for me to call it the best. Speaking of Jugdral, it seems like we'll be seeing a Genealogy remake on the horizon, since it's not only the next game due for one, but also taking into consideration Three Houses' plethora of Jugdral names used, as well as the crest system (which seems like an evolution of Genealogy's holy blood).

[@empoleon7750]

Regarding Those Who Slither in the Dark, they seem kind of one-dimensional right now, yes. However, we might see some DLC that gives more insight into them, as we did with Fates, where the DLC filled in some of the story gaps. For example, Anankos seems like a one-dimensional monster when you fight him in Revelation, but the Hidden Truths DLC reveals not only more details about the origins of Corrin and Lilith, but also another side to Anankos, and that he has one of the most horrifying and heartbreaking backstories I have even seen in a video game.

[@Jordan3DS]

@@empoleon7750 I think that the Agarthans had a suitable backstory for a Fire Emblem cult. I find it interesting that due to Rhea's obsession with the goddess, she attempted to wipe out the technically advanced Agarthans for not worshiping Sothis, so you can see why they would want revenge on the church of Seiros. I think the issue lies more with the fact that they barely show up in the game, so characters like Thales have literally zero development.

[@empoleon7750]

The development part is what I meant.

[@tero581]

Fire Emblem: Echoes - Shadows of Valentia is amazing too. The other games I had trouble with wanting to finish but Three houses and Echoes I have.

[@demi-fiendoftime3825]

The GBA games I've tryed but they just feel too slow to me, Awakening and Fates are meh to me, but the games I have realy enjoyed have been Path of Radiance, Genology of the Holy War, Echoes, and Three Houses and out of those 4 Echoes is my favorite.

[@nuibaba280]

@Demi-Fiend You have great taste

[@narenkarthikeyan2429]

@@demi-fiendoftime3825 If you’ve played Genealogy and Path of Radiance how do the gba games feel slow lmao

[@demi-fiendoftime3825]

@@narenkarthikeyan2429 It's hard to explain Genology felt snapy to me while everything in the gba games felt like it was moving through syrup. Also I just didn't find them engrossing.

[@yeyo1019]

@@demi-fiendoftime3825 genealogy and path of radiance are not slow? Are we in the same dimension my guy?

[@SSBBFalco]

As an FE fan, I agree that Divine Pulse/Mila's Turnwheel should stay for all next entries. Though I do have the patience to restart a whole map, I know that many, probably most people do not, so a mechanic like this should always be present especially when this is a game where you can die from a 1% crit or even a miss-click.

[@Jordan3DS]

I just hope that they turn down the uses from 13 to around 3 or 4 per map. 13 rewinds gives even the worst of players more than enough attempts to get things right.

[@riggso]

Can’t believe I watched so many other videos of yours without seeing this one. Ngl I am halfway into the video at 11:22 and I’ve heard a lot of comment like “the addition of of divine pulse” or “the removal of weapon triangle” in reference to your gameplay experience. Like, these were additions in the previous entry in the series, even weapon skills. I know it’s due to lack of knowledge so it’s a non-issue, but if you like that kinda stuff check out echoes, it was the first to introduce a few gameplay mechanics and features that transitioned into three houses. Either way loving the review so far, I’m really enjoying your perspective and experience considering you’ve played bits and pieces of the series before hand. Love your work!

[@sunfeatherX3]

My first FE game. I'm hooked. I love everything about it. But I clicked because I thought you somehow romanced the Death Knight. So I'm honestly feeling a little hurt. 🙃

[@l4w1i3t]

Now you can romance the Death Knight

[@arcanekitsune4202]

The Death Knight is a bi option now, I'm not even joking

[@DJWolfHouse]

I blush when I should have nodded. I am immediately decapitated. *BAD TEATIME!*

[@erikpeterson8526]

Now that you know Fire Emblem, I would really recommend going back to past entries, as your first game(s) always tends to have you lose a few units. This happened to me with Awakening, the first SRPG I ever played, where about a third of my units died by the end, but I beat all versions of Fates a couple of months later without losing anyone, even on hard difficulty. Also some way through my first run of Awakening, I got out of the mentality of trying to preserve all units and I enjoyed the game a lot more as I didn't have to stress out about saving all of them anymore (in fact I would now say that it's among the best games I've played). And welcome to the Fire Emblem series!

[@Smithrax_Kell]

Love your stuff man it helped me through a really dark time both this game and ur content so i appreciate your stuff so much

[@LeviAuren]

Can't wait for the sequel titled "learning to define what I love in Fire Emblem" for a video about Fire Emblem Engage

[@james240878]

Stopped watching at the spoiler alert. I’ll be back to watch the rest in 95 hours.

[@logjamstudios1963]

The teatime with the death knight is frickin hilarious.

[@kiaghezel-ayagh9099]

One golden deer student I didn’t use after I got her. You better not mean lysithea

[@KingKlonoa]

I actually do, not even joking. I didn't know how broken she was at the time, she just got killed a couple times so I never used her lol

[@kiaghezel-ayagh9099]

KingK that’s funny

[@SAITEKIKA]

OK i understand that I'm in the minority for the opinions I hold about FE; with that disclaimer out of the way. I don't think fire emblem is for everybody. I'm not trying to take an elitist stance here either. FE has always been a niche genre for a niche audience. Strategy, oppressive difficulty and doing math constantly are just a couple reasons people can't get into FE. I think TH is great for eliminating these factors for new players. The game has divine pulse which for a player like me takes out all tension and strategy even with just 6. Also the game straight up does the math for you this time by showing lines predicting how the AI behave with general battle forecast. Coming from me this is more in the frame of criticism towards the game. However I'm bringing it up because older games don't have these quality of life features. TH is almost a better standalone game in my opinion, its almost more isolating since the game never gives you the agency to plan or calculate anything. I really think newer players who expect quality from the older games are going to be disappointed. Obviously not everyone, I'm talking in general of course. So to wrap up, its OK to be a TH fan and not like the old games. I still encourage new players to try the older games since they may just discover their favorite gaming franchise. But don't feel bad or spiteful because someone on the internet is flaming you for not liking the older games; or even for playing casual mode. Play the games you like for the reasons you like them.

[@hamdepaf6686]

I wouldn't say I am elitist, hell i started with awakening and have yet to play the older games. Thing is I like fire emblem for the difficulty. But I enjoyed the divine pulse quite a bit, it allowed me to use strategies I wouldn't normaly use. Play a bit with fire (hit rates). Before I was hesitant to even go below 80% only if I had no other choice. Now i could play a bit more greedy for exp share and whatnot, cause if it doesn't work I can go back and turn down my risky mode. Tho the amount was rediculus in the end. I would redo 1 turn cause I placed a unit a bit off. And it was too spammable. But with 3 uses, it was another resurce I could use sparingly to my advantage.

[@SAITEKIKA]

@@hamdepaf6686 I'm more against the idea of mila turnwheel/divine pulse then anything. In my opinion It's been mishandled in both games its been included. Random elements have always been apart of fire emblem, sometimes you need to reset due to something missing or an enemy critical. I didn't do research on how to calculate critical or hitrate in TH yet since IS constantly changes the stats and how they interact with each other. I feel like if I'm gonna do a lunatic or infernal run of the game then I'd figure it out. With that being said in FE games the player has the tools to calculate enemy crit vs crit avoid. Example from Rekka no Ken: Critical rate formula: (Skill / 2) + (Weapon's Crit) + (Support bonus) + (Class bonus) + (S-Rank bonus) vs. Critical Dodge formula: (Luck) + (Support bonus) + (Tactician bonus) Sources: fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Critical_hit | fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Dodge (This applies to hitrate vs. avoid as well its just the formulas are different. You can find more by searching on the wiki.) This means that you can plan the most optimal course of action. You can avoid critical chance altogether or station your units in a way that you live a hit when facing crit; example: crit does X3 damage so an enemy with 11 ATK that crits can't one-shot one of your units with over 33 HP. So with all this in mind it should be on the player to do the math and play optimally. The only issue is these formulas are hidden from the player in normal gameplay (as far as I know) which I find to be unfortunate. Since I believe in a perfect world divine pulse is completely unnecessary if all players had access to all the formulas in game. With all that being said I don't mind the existence of divine pulse overall. Like what I said in my first comment: play games you like for the reasons you like them; I don't think people should be flamed for liking divine pulse. Because lets face it video games are a form of escapism and not everyone wants to do math while they play a game.

[@hamdepaf6686]

@@SAITEKIKA i knew you can calculate these things. And yes i am able to take the most optimal choices, but i like trying out other things and the save choice isn't always the exp, loot or resurce saving one. Thats what i was talking about. Example: my farmer unit is still level 1 and needs exp, i have an enemy down to like 3 hp so he can kill the enemy, but his hit rate is 50% and he would die on the return attack. Like i would never go for that. But divine pulse allows me to try it if i want to. If it is spammable i would (did) use it for everything and THAT is the boring part in my eyes. I mean just... dunno limit to 3 or make it cost money. And i would think it is another nice layer of depth.

[@SAITEKIKA]

@@hamdepaf6686 I like your perspective, I never thought of using divine pulse in that way. I always saw it as a quality of life mechanic and hadn't put much mind into other applications. I stand by my argument. The potential nuance to divine pulse as a mechanic is interesting. However I still think it should stay out of the series overall. With that being said its healthy for a community to respectfully disagree and discuss these topics. And i just enjoy hearing different perspectives and discussing topics.

[@imrane161]

I dislike divine pulse but i still use it for training stuff but you know in wich fire emblem game i would have loved divine pulse f@#kin sealed sword where the reinforcements can move the turn they arrive so i would be to scared to move and always turtled roy i hope that in the new harder difficulty the reinforcements will be able to move the turn they appear that would make me like divine pulse

[@minuterice19540]

Your comments about unit management touched on an issue I've had with the series for a while. The games force you to select a team from the available roster and bench the rest. This means that you can only get familiar with a select few units on each run. This problem was the worst in the GBA games. Despite how good those games are, I was always frustrated by how the limited supports meant that you could only get to know your characters partially. And once you got 5 conversations with a unit, that was it. You had to wait until your next run to see more. The games had to be played 4, 5, 6 times with incredibly delicate roster planning in order to see all that the characters had to offer. Even games with higher replay value, like FE7 for example, would become exhausting after just one or two times through. I'm glad that Three Houses side-stepped this issue by designing three separate storylines, each with a different main team to get to know. It keeps the experience fresh every time, while encouraging you to get to know the whole cast.

[@olimar1034]

Minute Rice I mean that’s more or less a fault of the GBA system, Genealogy allows for complete unit deployment as well as notifying you about talk and love status, and Echoes does the exact same thing. Thracia more or less makes you use all your units because of fatigue, and even Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn handles this better, because of those 2 games specific qualities, both with how supports work and base and talk conversations. And of course, Modern FE has no limit on supports either.

[@minuterice19540]

@@olimar1034 I was mostly harping on just one issue I've had with the series. There is another major one that I felt didn't fit in with the rest of the comment. That being that, despite the fact that I love the games, they exhaust me to play. The core formula is very good and highly engaging, but it's incredibly mentally taxing. The older games do practically nothing to give any sort of mental break to the player between the high stakes battles. The newer games made steps in that direction, but there was something that didn't quite work about their attempts. And then Three Houses introduced the monastery. It finally solved the issue for me, and gave me a space to mentally recharge without disengaging from the game. I admit, this is an incredibly personal problem and won't apply to every player, but it has been a constant part of my experience since getting into the series.

[@Sakurabliss7]

Yeah, I think the intention was that if one of your units died, new recruitable units could be used to make up for the open slot (because remember that New Mystery of the Emblem (JP only)/Awakening (rest of the world) was the first to implement the casual system). But yeah, for Awakening, Fates, and SoV, I pretty much had my favorite units that I grinded and invested in, and then my benched units that were pretty much only good for seeing support convos and getting OP child units.

[@minuterice19540]

@@Chad_Eldridge Very much. The monastery exploration and character interactions contained within offer sometimes quite lengthy breaks from the combat. I've spent many, many hours just running around the place and talking to people. And I have yet to get bored of it.

[@yeyo1019]

@@minuterice19540 old as fuck comment, but you have to learn to be able to make your own down time in games even when the game doesn't explicitly give you one, I usually do one, two or even three chapters, I'm satisfied, I turn off the game and come back later, it's only going to feel exhausting if you make it exhausting, come on even the suspend option is there if you lost your drive to continue mid map

[@funktavious7098]

I've been playing since the first Fire Emblem game was released in English, and I'm 100% with you about the Divine Pulse system

[@thund_disc2]

If you liked this game, I'd also highly recommend Echoes: Shadow of Valentia on the 3DS. It also lacks the weapon triangle, and has a mechanic similar to Divine Pulse. It also only gives you as many units as you can actually take into a map, in most instances. The map design is poor at times, but I personally think the games makes up for it in mechanics. Of course, as a long time fan, I'd also recommend going back to older games with a new perspective - but Echoes is certainly the closest to Three Houses.

[@sensitivebriar8479]

I loved FE3H for a lot of the reasons you're describing and the game really got me into the series. I love how this game portrays war. It's not just something to be won like it is in the few other Fire Emblem titles I've played. This war is harsh. Its bloody and inhumane and vicious. The game does a great job at making the other houses the villain of whatever route you play. Sometimes I almost forget that they were my students as well. It shows war as it is. There is no glory when you finally kill the other house leaders. There's just that awful sinking feeling in your stomach and the wish that you could have changed things. I think this Fire Emblem title excells as a social commentary and thats one of the things I liked most about it.

[@cassiopeiasturm]

Got to play this now! Also, if you get the chance please make the hollow knight video that you mentioned during the e3 retrospective. I'm sure it's a ton of work, but I'm finishing up my play through now and would love your thoughts.

[@milosconster2935]

I thought this would be a video about the Death Knight learning to love when I saw the thumbnail

[@chaincat33]

Glad to see you got El's route first pass. And... Yeah. There really aren't any answers. There's only one person who's wholly good and that's Claude, honestly. And his route, as far as the story goes, is so wildly different from the others it almost misses the point of Edelgard's and Dimitri's conflict. Edelgard is playing a game much larger than Dimitri ever could conceive. But she misses the finer details, willfully at that. An ocean of blood pools at her feet as much as she tries to stem the tide and she knew it would. But she believed it was necessary, and after what the nobility did to her and Lysithea, it's hard to tell her she's wrong. But that also doesn't mean she's right. War is hell, and Dimitri plainly exemplifies it. He tears through bodies in his search for revenge, a tide of blood enveloping him as he pursues his revenge. He doesn't want to see anyone needlessly die ever again, but then he himself became the evil he sought to stop. War is hell, and all you can really do is keep pushing for what you believe in. It's by far the most mature fire emblem story I've ever played. Path of Radiance comes pretty close, but it was dragged down by its sequel imo. If you go back to past fire emblems and manage to force yourself through them, you'll likely find them... A bit lacking compared to three houses in the story department. Maps should more or less be fine, that's the only praise I'll give fates, conquest specifically, but the only games easier than three houses have to be awakening, and fates' other two routes.

[@drhysr9545]

I noticed how u thought the maps where ur units didn't die were boring, I personally loved them, especially the battle of the eagle and lion. It felt like a friendly competition for bragging rights, which was great to me

[@TheBawster]

HAHAHA mate i love the clip over to the gametime you played, i can relate! :D

[@GigaMan91]

"Between Heaven and Earth" is my favorite song in the game. It emphasizes how tragic that entire battle is.

[@Mainimi]

I'm glad Three Houses is bringing more people into my favorite franchise. I recommend going back and starting from the GBA games, or maybe even FE4 and 5 if you don't mind the outdated ui and graphics (some of those fighting animations are great though). In fact FE4 might be the best fit for you since it also has a pretty small cast compared to the other games in the series where you have a 40 people army, give or take (though you aren't supposed to use them all, just the ones you want), and it's the one that influenced Three Houses the most in terms of themes and characters. If you want the best map designs you'd have to go with FE5, 10, 12 or Conquest, which you were playing. The maps in Three houses aren't actually bad (in fact I'd say they're above average in terms of design), just too easy for an experienced player.

[@hosed10]

This was my first Fire Emblem game as well. I enjoyed it immensely and I'm looking forward to the next release. I'm hoping they build on what they have here. It's a great world and I'd love them to build in more "movie" pieces. They have such nice cutscenes and it feels like I'm watching a TV series. Please add more of those, it was criminal how few of them there were and I feel you could make an amazing game by doing so.

[@tehCostHD]

I don’t get why everyone dreads the weapon triangle it has NEVER had THAT much of an impact on the game. The only time where you HAVE to make sure you always use the right weapon no matter what is on like maniac type modes. Playing the game normally has never had a huge impact because of weapon triangle.

[@jacob9081]

Hey KingK, I think I've watched every one of your videos but I wanted to say this one in particular seems aimed at people who've already beaten the game. One of the reasons I love your channel is it lets me feel like I've played the game vicariously through you, even if its something I've had no interaction with. A lot of this video had me lost and asking a lot of questions, since there isn't much explaination as to who the houses are, how the game is set up, ect. If it wasn't called Three Houses this video would make me assume there are two, and I'm going to google it right after writing this comment to figure out whats going on with that. Just some feedback from a fan, excited for your next video!

[@saliver5909]

Totally agree on the part about divine pulse and new players. If there isn't a rewind button, I bet lots of new people will drop the game.

[@darkforcewhis1221]

“What is war if not a spectacle of the damned?”

[@RiskyRuns]

Your issue with previous Fire Emblem games is that you were conditioned to think that losing characters = failure. Resetting after every loss made the game more and more repetitive until you gave up. The solution is to stop resetting. Let characters die, as the developers intended. The Fire Emblem fanbase has a lot of bad habits and you don't have to play exactly how they play.

[@Zaemoncho]

I don't think they intended you to "accept" losing units. Just implemented the option. They probably know that nowadays people won't accept losing their Hilda/Flayn/Lysithea/Bernie/Marianne to a DAMN CRIT!

[@Zaemoncho]

@Empire I agree with you in some ways, in fact, I almost didn't use DP in my 1st playthru cause I wanted a "clean game", and used strategy to not get killed, knowing that I could have avoided that and just use DP. I only used DP in 2 battles plus once to avoid some button pressing mistake. I'm just saying: even in the older games I didn't accept my units getting killed, ever. In all of my 3ds awakening playthroughs for example, I would soft reset. In lunatic+ I even resetted very bad lvl ups cause if I didn't, later in the game I wouldn't be able to survive exposure with a certain unit or whatever

[@Balmora776]

RiskyRuns The developers don’t just expect your characters to die and for you to keep going there’s nothing wrong with resetting or just a varying forward either works.

[@eevee1583]

Or you can let people play however they want

[@Rilobster]

“No spoilers for the golden deer route” god damnit the one route I’ve finished so far. Well I’ll be back to this video in another month once I finish the other two routes

[@ohamatchhams]

I never thought I got so early into KingK's video, not to mention that I never have any idea about Fire Emblem series aside from some of it's edgy and sexual jokes le epik meems spreading on social medias surrounding it, I'm glad that there's a channel which explains thoroughly the more specific technical of combat and map design of this game on serious note too , thank you KingK

[@ThePuffmeister]

That 3 way battle also caught me waaaay off guard. I was sitting there with all of my units in the middle, then simultaneously Edelgard set the middle on fire and Claude started advancing towards the middle with his ridiculous attack range. That was a hard reset there.

[@AtotheZness]

Is it just me or is his voice silky smooth.

[@paulchapman8023]

It’s not just you. His voice sounds to me like ASMR.

[@rafa5663]

The reason why you are given so many units is because the games are designed around the idea that you'll just let them die. Doing this means that you'll reset less, and gives the game a lot of emotional power. In my last playthrough of fe4 I managed to end with 9 out of 24 units, and despite being sad I got to use units that I had never paid attention to, making it hella special.

[@necropig]

I have 80 hours so far, done 1 full story and just hit the time skip on 2nd play through

[@jonathanrussell8998]

I see we have the same favorite battle in the game! A fellow man of culture. XD Best freaking battle in the game, the series needs more of these.

[@williams0579]

I loved your video / critique of BotW, so I was hoping that your video on Fire Emblem would also highlight valid critiques of the game (while everyone else is just singing praises). This was my first FE game as well, and while I've really enjoyed it, there's notable flaws that people seem to just be ignoring overall. Good luck with future vids.

[@rodrigog2805]

95 hours... You have to pump those numbers up

[@hadoukenfighter]

this is a title that mangs and mekkah need to learn from.

[@Nonaryfame]

Ditto

[@nuibaba280]

lmao true

[@Remenor]

I just started my FE3H playthrough a couple weeks ago. Like you, I don't know much about the series and was pretty nervous to start up a fresh franchise. I'm glad that there are features in place to allow newcomers like myself to get into the game. It's one of my favorite this year! Great video, as always!

[@toffeeFairy]

As someone that wasn't a big fan of awaking and fates, but really like the older ones on the gba and shadow of valantia. I'm so glad that i get to like a mainline gasme again. Butr the game becomes to easy to fast. To put it diffrently, if you're like me and played your first one trough on hard and classic and really enjoyed the difficulty across the board. You will just breeze trough it on a 2. playtrough. Partly because of the time management, which lets you become extremly op if you know what you are doing.

[@glaba24]

As a veteran FE player and corroborated with other veteran FE players I spoke to, 3H is like a top 3 fire emblem. Every aspect of it is so tight and well done, it's amazing. It's been a long time since such a complete FE came out

[@Jordan3DS]

My list is more like 1. Genealogy of the Holy War 2. Shadows of Valentia 3. Binding Blade 4. Path of Radiance 5. Mystery of the Emblem (Super Famicom) 6. Three Houses Still, 6 isn't bad for a series with so many games

[@Pixelporygon]

You should totally do a Donkey kong 64 retrospective

[@Jordan3DS]

Hell yeah, it's Chunky Kong's time to shine!

[@jraulpg521]

You said the reason why I love Three Houses and Fire Emblem as a hole thanks for this video and you got a new fan

[@Netherman14TheHellblazer]

I wasn't a Kingdom Hearts fan, yet look at me now.

[@solidskullz5736]

Three houses is easily one of my favorite switch games, right now I’ve got about 170 hours it on it because of how much there is to experience

[@birdfish86]

All the newcomers now can go back in the series and see the hell that is my fav game series lol i suggest FE 4 super famicom and FE 6 gba

[@tuskoub]

Even though FE16 takes an ungodly amount of cues from FE4, I don’t think he would like either of them. The only close game to FE16 that he’d like is FE15 and no other.

[@Wildwolf5910]

That last line "what is war if not a spectacle of the damned" is so loaded

[@meemoo7]

I‘m happy how everyone agrees that Three Houses is literally almost flawless. I love Fire Emblem so much but Three Houses is so good that it sometimes gives me anxiety thinking about it lmaoo

[@pinkpeacock313]

Something that was going unsaid about this game (until this video) is its accessibility which is hard for alot of niche genres this game is great at that im happy you liked it. I started with awakening and got hooked and i played all but shadow dragon and gaiden and path of radiance

[@boo5860]

Kinda sounds like mass effect or dragon age like, bonding with ur team and helping them develop

[@TheMilhouseExperience]

The best advice I can give anyone giving the old games, save for a few games that deploy everybody because it doesn’t apply, a shot. Train a core team of 10-12 units. Don’t be afraid to drop someone if they aren’t pulling their weight, that’s why there are so many units gained throughout. And sometimes death is a motivator to take care of your surviving units, if you can look past permadeath. The series isn’t for everyone, but it’s damn good. And the OST’s are some of the best.

[@hy9er213]

This is my game of the year, unless hollow knight silksong comes out this year, that might beat three houses.

[@vystaria]

ahhh shit yo i needed this reminder, im so hype for silksong let’s gooooo

[@pankotle]

Glad to see you like it. I'm on my second play-through and just hit 70h

[@marche800]

Things like the lack of a weapon triangle, the presence of combat arts and the undo function (Divine Pulse) were originally added in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the 3DS remake of the second ever Fire Emblem game. That game also made it's cast a little more manageable by splitting it between two protagonists who's campaigns take place simultaneously. The monastery stuff and intense customization is all new to 3 Houses though, so you will be taking a decent step back if you decide to go back and play the previous games.

[@antimatter3084]

But alot of the older titles has more complex maps especially Thrachia 776 than 3 houses

[@olimar1034]

Marche Well technically it was FE4 that introduced the weapon triangle, FE1-3 didn’t have it, as it didn’t exist yet

[@marche800]

@@olimar1034 Well yeah, but that's neither here nor there. For all intents and purposes Echoes Reintroduced the idea of it being missing.

[@marche800]

@@antimatter3084 True. Echoes isn't exactly a good example of exemplary map design either.

[@Jordan3DS]

@@antimatter3084 I wouldn't use Thracia as the standard for "complex maps", since a lot of the map design in that game is pretty awful.

[@MGMVE]

I'm not a Fire Emblem fan either. Never have been, I got Three Houses on a Whim back when it first came out. I picked the Blue Lions route as I saw something happened to Dimitri, I was curious as to what it was. Little did I know, by the time the time skip happened and after, I was left with some very difficult maps. Didn't know how to strategize and be tactical, at the time I was just winging it. Divine Pulse was a life saver for me. Had it not been there, I probably would not have continued. I'm sure Fire Emblem Purists don't care for it much or it probably makes the game too easy. For me, it actually made the game doable, it was some huge map that I will never be able to do. The last map for the Blue Lions was so hard, not so much with Gronder Field, I remember killing some Black Eagles and Golden Deer folks, I had no attachment to them. Three Houses does a very good job of keeping you invested in your house units and keeping them alive somehow to make it to the end. It's that connection and drive that kept me going and to keep trying. As I understand past Fire Emblem games are Super Hard, there's no Casual Mode, it's all Classic Mode, so when your unit dies, they are gone for good.

[@_ArsNova]

3H is somwhat of a departure from the older Fire Emblems, easier and made to appeal to more casual players. Hence no weapon triangle, can turn back time, more lenient difficulty, and half the game isn't even combat. Much more emphasis the whole "school life" angle, somewhat to the game's detriment imo.

[@Jordan3DS]

I was really dreading the school mechanics going in, but they worked well enough. Not a system that I want them to keep going forward, but it's a good way to differentiate Three Houses from the rest of the series.

[@Rickxekken]

Man, the Battle at Grounder is so good

[@olimar1034]

It’s always fun when I get to do this so here goes. I’ll Echo (heh) what other people have been saying in the comments in that you should play Shadows of Valentia, it’s fairly similar to 3H with a smaller cast, Divine Pulse, no weapon triangle, and combat arts. Just be warned, uh Echoes is a remake of FE2 on the NES so the map design leaves something to be desired. From their I’d go to Path of Radiance, while it have a tad more characters than 3H and Echoes, it’s a lot more manageable than other FEs. But while being more traditional, FE9 does have a fairly strong focus on characters, as well as being considered one of the best FE stories, up their with Genealogy of the Holy War and Three Houses, with a good level of world building as well. The maps I’d say are a step up from 3H’s and Echoes’s map in design and difficulty, but they’re not going to be brutal in difficulty. Obviously from their I’d play Radiant Dawn, but don’t expect the same level of writing quality you’ve been getting. While it’s not poorly written, it’s not up to par with the series’ best, but in terms of gameplay it’s a blast. It’ll be decently harder, but by then I think you’ll be able to manage, and can probably play on Normal, just know going in it’ll be harder. It does have a high cast count, and so it doesn’t have much cast interaction as it would be a writing nightmare for the game. While it does have a lot of units, they pretty much all have a use in maps, even if some characters are just bad. But be warned, the cast in the game tends to be shuffled around a lot without delving into spoiler territory. From their you can go anywhere you want, Genealogy is pretty unconventional in terms of FE, but it’s still has a great story and different but good gameplay as well. It has few maps, but to compensate they’re huge, and equal several chapter in other FE games, so it’s still the same length if not longer. For this though, really avoid spoilers, this is definitely a story that needs to be experienced blind. Thracia also takes place in the same world as Genealogy, and is a sort of side story to Genealogy’s story. Just know going in Thracia will be pretty brutal, it’s extremely well designed, but is not friendly to new players. Just make sure you play the Project Naga patch for Genealogy and the Project Exile patch for Thracia, as those are the best translation patches for each game. The GBA games are also fun, but not as good as the rest of the series. FE7 (or just Fire Emblem) is probably the worst if the bunch, but it’s still worth a play or two, just again don’t expect high quality writing in that game, or map design, although you will get some good character interactions in that game. FE6 is probably the best in terms of gameplay, just be warned it will be harder than the other 2 GBA games, and a high amount of units front loaded in the game. It’s also has a pretty bare bones story and cast conversations, but it’s completely functional as a plot. Speaking of plot it’s FE7 is a prequel to this game, but they’re really not that well connected. Again don’t expect a complicated and intricate story in these 2 games. FE8 is definitely the easiest but has the best cast of characters and story in the GBA lineup. In fact, it’s probably has some of the best characters in the series. It definitely has a smaller cast, along the lines of Echoes. In terms of story it’s not a sprawling epic, but it’s definitely one of the more personal and creative FE stories. While the maps are easy, the game gives you a lot of tools to work with, so clearing the maps as fast as possible is really the fun in that games maps. Anyway this comment is long enough, I just hope you enjoy the series as much as the rest of us. TLDR Play Echoes than Path of Radiance than Radiant Dawn, you can jump to any other game after that, but different games will have different quirks and mechanics than the others, so understand that going in. PS Don’t bother with FE1-3, maybe if you’ve beat every game, but even then. They’re definitely aged the poorest in the series.

[@Zoltri]

Not going to watch the video becasue of spoilers, but really glad you're enjoying the game. Fire emblem is by far my favorite series, and while I have really minor things I wish three houses offered differently, I think it might be my new favorite in the series. Although, it feels vary much inspired by Genealogy of the Holy wars, one of the series stand out titles from way back in the 90s just with the advancement of 25 years of lessons and advancements backing it up, which is really wonderful. :)