Board 8 > Famitsu has been revealing a ton of new Fire Emblem: Three Houses info lately.

(+) Yeah! (+)

They've been publishing big info dumps every two weeks since the end of April. And thankfully Fire Emblem super fansite Serenes Forest has been translating it all. A lot of terms aren't their official English terms and may change I think.

https://serenesforest.net/2019/04/24/three-houses-story-character-gameplay-info-famitsu-16th-may-issue/
https://serenesforest.net/2019/04/25/three-houses-famitsu-screenshots-female-byleth-footage-anna-artwork/

These ones have a basic introduction to some of the characters, story, and gameplay elements like classes, class changing, skills, map terrains, shops, weapons, that kinda stuff. Also mentions Mila's Turnwheel from FE Echoes is making a return under a new name and it goes over some of the basics of how you'll be customizing the units as their instructor via Professor Levels. A lot of what's in this article is further expanded on in the next ones.

https://serenesforest.net/2019/05/15/three-houses-second-famitsu-article-skills-crests-battalions-academy/

This one goes more in-depth on skills and classes, and covers how battalions and gambits work, and introduces more characters. It introduces the concept of crests but doesn't go into much detail of what they do. It also delves into your daily life at the academy and reveals the game has a time management/calendar system. Things you can do include stroll through the castle, teach classes, venture out to do battles, shop, give out exams that allow for class changing, and more. It talks about Instructor Levels and goes more in-depth on how Professor Levels work and the various ways you can build up your units. Support levels are back and there are various ways to build support between units aside from just battling. No mention of marriage or kids or anything so far.

https://serenesforest.net/2019/05/29/three-houses-famitsu-third-article-part-1-2-early-story-battle-system-new-classes/
https://serenesforest.net/2019/05/29/three-houses-famitsu-third-article-part-2-2-weekend-activities-new-character-details/

These go over a bit more of the story, introduces more characters, covers more info on classes and skills. Goes over other battle mechanics like assistants/support units, co-ordinated attacks, co-ordinated gambits, and some map gimmicks like drawbridges. It goes more in-depth on how you can spend your time at the academy, including side quests, fishing, gardening, and cooking. There's a lot to do and seemingly not enough time to do it all.

It's really a lot to read through! Seems like they're really trying to make a very content-rich game here with a high replayability value.

Also there's a spoiler leak AMA that happened on Reddit that the most recent article apparently confirms the validity of, so there's that too if you want to go look for it.
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Everything I read about this game makes me leery that it won't be fun (though the turnwheel coming back is a good sign) So I'm just doing my best to avoid all info and keep expectations low
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yea but you always think that about modern iterations of established games
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three houses zero hype
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These articles are very hype actually thank you very much.
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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

yea but you always think that about modern iterations of established games

Yeah man old established franchises are hard to keep fresh. I respect the struggle, but that doesn't mean I like the end product
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One thing I like is each unit seems to be given more relevancy through sidequests and contribute to overall world building. Like these tidbits from the last article are exciting.

Also, that particular sidequest occurs in the Purgatory Valley of Ailell. This time, its located near the border of Faerghus and Leicester. Although I think its a coincidence that its near a border. Sidequests have featured charactersIngrid and Dorothea are the stars of this show. Which is cool because theyre from different houses.

Apparently an emergent nobleman has offered a marriage proposal to Ingrid, but once Dorothea discovers his name, she openly opposes the proposal. Dorothea asks Ingrid if she wants to rebuild her family using bloodstained money. Oof, this songstress knows some secrets alright. It also sounds like Ingrids family is in dire straights.

Back to the selected sidequest, its Disquieting Death Co-ordination (sorry for the Engrishy name; Im lazy to think of something better), which involves Raphael and Ignace, both from the Golden Deer. From the sidequests name, it seems to be related to co-ordinated attacks. Maybe a forbidden one

The story goes that Ignace is from a merchant family, while Raphael used to be from one, before his parents both died. Within the alliances territory, merchants keep getting attacked by Terrors, so the pair head over to fix the situation We learn that Raphaels parents were slaughtered by Terrors during a business trip.

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I can't get even a little excited for this game and I couldn't really tell you why.
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Not liking that it sounds like we're going back to Awakening's RNG based dual strike/guard mechanic instead of the Fates style
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I hate that I'm as optimistic about this game as I am. I just know I'm gonna get burned.
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I'll probably pass unless reviews are absolutely amazing. I'd rather they just port Path of Radiance or one we know is good >_>

I'd love to get excited for this game but everything about the plot screams Valkyria Chronicles 2 which is not a good thing, especially since you're working from a less solid storytelling base than Valkyria Chronicles to begin with
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It's insane to me that the reaction is like this, because this is easily the most excited I've ever been for an FE game. Probably just appeals to me more, personally. B8 has always been a little...off from norm in regards to FE reactions, too. Who was it here that said they'd rather Fire Emblem had died rather than Awakening had come out?

Also helps that I really hate handhelds nowadays, so this is the first time an FE game has been on a platform I care about since the Wii.
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LapisLazuli posted...

B8 has always been a little...off from norm in regards to FE reactions, too.

This is hardly a B8 thing. The pre-release impression across the internet of Three Houses has been pretty lukewarm.
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I haven't really been seeing that, mayhe I'm just not looking in the right places.

Regardless, I think it looks super good, and I'm extremely pleased were finally getting a console FE again and in HD for the first time.
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Who was it here that said they'd rather Fire Emblem had died rather than Awakening had come out?

You may be talking about me and if you were that's not exactly what I said or meant.

I greatly dislike the last few FE games, starting with Awakening, and an argument I always hear when I bring that up is that it "saved the franchise from death." To which my rebuttal is always "why should I care if the franchise is alive if I no longer enjoy its entries?"

Now that being said, 3H, as I mentioned, looks really good to me. I've just got a bad taste in my mouth for the series right now so it's hard to fully commit to optimism.
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No I don't think it was you.

Whoever I'm remembering was more blatant about it.
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IIRC there was a guy that loved Awakening and played it for hundreds of hours and then suddenly one day decided he hated it and made it his mission to talk shit about the game whenever possible. Can't think of his name...

I wonder if part of the problem people are having with this game is the design. Like visually it just looks underwhelming compared to other Switch games and maybe that's just putting people off subconsciously?
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I think the time constraints/management aspect to this game sounds really cool. Echoes was a small step in the right direction for this series so hopefully this game continues that trend.
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iiicon posted...

I think the time constraints/management aspect to this game sounds really cool. Echoes was a small step in the right direction for this series so hopefully this game continues that trend.

I just hope there's a New Game+ where your instructor and gauge levels carry over so you can have maximum options from the beginning for the ultimate customization experience.
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edgelard
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mnkboy907 posted...

I wonder if part of the problem people are having with this game is the design. Like visually it just looks underwhelming compared to other Switch games and maybe that's just putting people off subconsciously?

I like the art style, but the character designs leave a lot to be desired.
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mnkboy907 posted...

IIRC there was a guy that loved Awakening and played it for hundreds of hours and then suddenly one day decided he hated it and made it his mission to talk shit about the game whenever possible. Can't think of his name...

That was probably Jaffar, but to be fair he did that with most Fire Emblem games.

Also, Awakening is a remarkably shallow game but since you don't realize that until hour 150ish I'd say it's still a fine game.

Fates is kind of the opposite. I'm at hour 216 and I'm starting to actually like it.
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mnkboy907 posted...

I wonder if part of the problem people are having with this game is the design. Like visually it just looks underwhelming compared to other Switch games and maybe that's just putting people off subconsciously?

yeah in my last bitch fest I posted a HD image of this game next to a wikipedia thumbnail of PoR, and pointed out how in the wiki thumbnail you can tell at a glance which enemies do what, which characters are which, and the basic plan for attack comes to you by glancing at the map. In the HD image of 3H it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between a bowcaster, swordsman, and a unique named enemy.

They've since "solved" this problem by adding a bunch of artless face art in squares above every character, but it's fair to say they REALLY dropped the ball on just basic design with this game visually, which makes me think they've probably dropped it other places too.
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The hype isn't there for me, but whenever I check in it usually seems good. I guess after Fates (and to a lesser extent Awakening) I'm just really cautious this time?

Think I'm waiting for actual reactions this time around. I'll probably get it either way unless the reaction is it's a total disaster, but that seems quite unlikely.
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SantaRPidgey posted...

mnkboy907 posted...

I wonder if part of the problem people are having with this game is the design. Like visually it just looks underwhelming compared to other Switch games and maybe that's just putting people off subconsciously?

yeah in my last bitch fest I posted a HD image of this game next to a wikipedia thumbnail of PoR, and pointed out how in the wiki thumbnail you can tell at a glance which enemies do what, which characters are which, and the basic plan for attack comes to you by glancing at the map. In the HD image of 3H it was nearly impossible to tell the difference between a bowcaster, swordsman, and a unique named enemy.

They've since "solved" this problem by adding a bunch of artless face art in squares above every character, but it's fair to say they REALLY dropped the ball on just basic design with this game visually, which makes me think they've probably dropped it other places too.

I think that'll be less of a problem once you've actually classed everyone out of the beginner Noble/Commoner classes. Early screenshots have everyone in their school uniforms, and they drop those once you actually start re-classing. You should theoretically be able to better tell what each person is.
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Still the game I'm most looking forward to this year.
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I can't get over how boring the character design is
There are only like...3-4 interesting looking characters, the rest are generic anime
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https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1134185092903923712

I can't tell if these are awesome or terrible or both at the same time.
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That death dude looks like he's smiling for a company picture
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It looks like they hired the designers of Fire Emblem Heroes to do their characters and this is not a good thing
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Lopen posted...

It looks like they hired the designers of Fire Emblem Heroes to do their characters and this is not a good thing

Oh I wish because they are actually good

Or maybe it's the source material that is good
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School uniforms were just an awful idea for the character designs in this game, I think. It works in Persona because every character has modified their outfit to an absurd degree so the "uniform" parts of it really only serve as a unifying theme tying the designs of the party members together.

Here though, you've got a ton of characters just playing it straight with their uniform so all their visual personality has to come from their neck up, and most of them don't have anything to make them stand out.
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