Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Thoughts


[contains minor spoilers]

It didn't take long for me to conclude that Fire Emblem: Three Houses is my favorite in the franchise. I'm admittedly not too well-versed in the series—I've only played four out of its staggering sixteen entries—but Three Houses makes an impressive argument that I'm not sure the other games could beat. Every Fire Emblem since the NES debut has generally followed the same formula: take control a ragtag band of heroes as you fight back against an evil empire, with the infamous catch that any hero that falls in battle is gone for good. And while Three Houses very much keeps this premise alive, the way it goes about executing it makes the game the most approachable—and complex!—Fire Emblem to date.


The biggest (and most contentious) upheaval Fire Emblem: Three Houses brings to the series is a Persona-styled "Free Time" system that rules gameplay between battles. During Free Time, you'll complete miscellaneous chores around the school that can give your units extra stats and gear—which might sound minor, but will end up occupying half of your total playtime. This probably sounds boring to those that haven't played Persona or Animal Crossing, but there's a trove of satisfaction found in gradually improving your students and picking out which duties are important for you. While some chores inevitably become rote (prepare to hear the same lunch conversations over and over), your leisure time in Three Houses rarely feels slow or meaningless. If anything, "Free Time" adds more weight to the end-of-month battles, as those are where your fruits of your labor will (hopefully) pay off.

It's easy to look at how "modernized" the series has become and assume combat has gotten gentler, but Three Houses refutes that sentiment wholeheartedly. The game not only presents a stiff challenge (on Hard) but also hands the players plenty of tools to customize their army, adding multiple layers to your preparation. Along with the typical weapon loadout, there are equippable items, battalions, gambits, combat arts, adjutants, crests, and a class system where any character can promote into a class of their choosing—provided they meet certain requirements. Having skipped the series from the Wii release and onwards, you can imagine how robust Three Houses felt for me, especially considering that Fire Emblem's age-old gameplay pillar of "who fights whom?" isn't really lacking. Throw in some unique map gimmicks and gargantuan monsters that require team-wide coordination, and I'd contest that Three Houses emerges as the most strategic game in the franchise.

If that seems daunting to newcomers, note that Fire Emblem: Three Houses includes some much-needed accessibility options—namely the rewind mechanic and the ability to disable permadeath. Both aren't new to this entry but they're welcome improvements that can win over curious onlookers, as well as being completely optional features which hardcore vets can ignore. I personally think permadeath makes Fire Emblem a better, more memorable series, but I recognize that some folks might just want to hang out with their anime friends and forego the gut-wrenching panic that enemy crits induce. Admittedly, I found myself occasionally using the rewind mechanic to undo poorly thought-out moves too. In my defense the game is long enough without having to restart battles from scratch!


If there's something Fire Emblem: Three Houses struggles with, it's its visuals. Character portraits and their models are gorgeous, but the entire backdrop to the game—textures, locales, lighting—feel dated, if not lacking. At times it comes across as a remaster of a 3DS game, marred by too much empty space and a strict adherence to orthogonal angles. These issues don't really develop into nuisances however; Three Houses' visuals simply aren't impressive, and that's the worst part about them. Thankfully, the tremendous score more than makes up for the mediocre graphics, and the voice acting is top notch, especially for a dubbed game.

To tie this (mostly) masterful package together is a cast of lovable characters that will entangle you in some difficult decisions. As mentioned before, Fire Emblem games have always been about fighting oppressive, cartoonishly-evil empires, but Three Houses adds a beautiful twist to this formula. At the start of the game you'll pick one of three cliques to support, and then the other two are cruelly (but logically) morphed into your antagonists. Smartly, it waits to twist this knife until at least a third of the way through the story, letting you grow attached to each of the students in the opening hours before revealing what side of the war they're fighting on. It hurts having to dispatch of some of them, because you've talked with them, spent time with them, and come to understand they're not terrible people—they're just a roadblock on the path to justice.

Foes becoming friends is an old trick in the Fire Emblem playbook, which is what helps makes the inverse feel that much more surprising. On top of that, the schism between the titular three houses is due to ideology and methodology, instead of base desires or naked greed. Three Houses is surprisingly nuanced, laden with pained history that will have you arguing with real-life friends and strangers whether or not your house was justified in their actions. And the brilliant part is that no matter which path you choose, your perspective will always be that of the hero and liberator. Three Houses echoes that history is written by the victors, and that the larger the revolution, the larger the cost.


Fire Emblem: Three Houses knocks it out of the park on almost every front. Besides the visuals, the only other quibble I can think of is that some of the Battalion gambits are too powerful, as they can quickly change the tide of battle for both you and your enemies. But at least that ends up becoming a tactical consideration, just like picking your weapons or choosing which characters get to deliver the killing blow. Three Houses makes the series more personable with the "Free Time" system, as well as more approachable with the rewind ability. And series vets need not worry as the game doubles down on tough decisions you'll have, both on the battlefield and off. It is the best of both worlds; it is the best Fire Emblem game ever made; it has the best narrative Nintendo will (likely) ever produce.

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