Topic: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

@-Green-
The story definitely has some gaps, moreso if you aren't exploring the monastery frequently. I also found some of the dialogue options very sudden/jarring, if that makes any sense.

For example, at the beginning of the game, (and this is not a spoiler, it literally happens within the starting cutscenes), I didn't get the vibe of father/son from Jeralt and your character, and if I'm remembering correctly, Jeralt never says anything in that opening cutscene about you being his son. But when Alois (I think it was Alois?) asks you who you are, the dialogue options were like "None of your business," "I'm a mercenary," and "I'm his son." And I was like...uh.... his son? Is that sarcasm? What? lol Now, I'm only about 20 hours in, so maybe there is some kind of twist with that later, so I'm aware of that.

Just little stuff like that. Otherwise, as I've been saying, the game is fantastic and taken as a whole I do enjoy the story.

@rallydefault
For example, at the beginning of the game, (and this is not a spoiler, it literally happens within the starting cutscenes), I didn't get the vibe of father/son from Jeralt and your character, and if I'm remembering correctly, Jeralt never says anything in that opening cutscene about you being his son

Just... keep playing. That’s all I’m going to say. Everything will make sense.

@JaxonH
I figured there's probably something that's going to happen because there doesn't seem to be much of a father/son relationship going on.

Man, the real challenge in this game is getting perfect tea parties so that you can raise your CHA stat and more easily recruit people. I had to keep reloading to the right last answer in my parties with Dorothea (although it turned out well, as she let me recruit her!)

I think maybe I'll start listing down all the correct answers in a guide of some sort. It'd especially make like easier for that final question.

People praise Catherine because she’s strong, but that’s about as far as it goes and it’s natural. Besides that, there are points where people point out her flaws as a person and it feels organic because you see Catherine, her position and what she’s capable of and you’re like “yeah she’s really cool”.

For Byleth so far, I feel they fall in this weird area of customizable self insert protagonist and actual character. They tried to do this by making it so Byleth is detached and emotionless, but Byleth as an individual has very little actual character. So when stuff happens to them or should be serious Byleth is just empty and it’s hard to care for them. I’m not done so far, but this is the impression I’m getting.

I kinda ended up liking Hubert in a weird way. He seems almost like Edelgard's sin eater in my eyes. He sits in the pits of darkness so Edelgard doesn't have to be fully exposed to it. In a way, he keeps her in checks and balances by doing the dark and dirty tasks required of a ruler in order that she doesn't become dispassionate and jaded.

Hubert really is great. It’s tough to pull off a black mage, but they did it with Hubert.

Also starting to really like Ferdinand. At first I didn’t like him, but now, after seeing his supports, more and more I’m appreciating his voice actor and noble pride. Of course he demonstrates that trait to a fault, but that’s part of his charm.

And as for Byleth, he’s a silent protagonist. You interject yourself into his character. Either you’re into that style of game or you’re not. I’m totally into it. I don’t need Byleth to have character, that’s what I have a dozen other people on my team for. They provide the entertainment of character and interesting dialogue. Byleth has one purpose and one purpose only- to allow me (you) to insert myself into the game. I don’t need him to speak to grow attached to Jeralt, I need Jeralt to speak to grow attached to Jeralt. And Jeralt has plenty of character and dialog. The only character that suffers from Byleth being a silent protagonist, is Byleth himself, and that’s perfectly fine because I’m not supposed to be attached to him... because he’s me. I’m already attached to myself. That doesn’t mean some silent protags aren’t better than others, but I definitely say he‘s better than Robin, better than Corrin and even Link.

Also, the supports are truly excellent in this game. I’m having a field day rummaging through these convos. The B supports are particularly entertaining (though I haven’t gotten any A supports yet).

I actually think I should have played on HARD though. The game started out about the same as others but it has gotten a lot easier since. I believe that’s because the roster is smaller so everyone is gaining experience instead of having it spread out among 20 or 30 people, combined with how many paralogs they throw at you (and that’s not even taking into account the battles you can do for an activity point- and I can’t IMAGINE needing to do the unlimited battles beyond that, as I can’t even keep up with the ones you have to spend points on). Then you factor in the bonus XP on the maps, and it all just cascades into an overleveled group.

New Game + I’ll definitely be doing HARD mode. And avoiding the extra battles (aside from Paralogs).

Also, there’s like 9 or 10 Divine Pulses Total you can get after the Saint statue bonuses. That’s absolutely insane. They really, really, really should have limited those. Even if it was only restricted in HARD mode, I would have been OK with it. But as it stands you have unlimited rewinds in a game that’s already easy. My first classic run feels less impactful than previous casual runs as a result. Why on earth would they think somebody would need 9 rewinds per map. It should be ONE REWIND, and TWO REWINDS post timeskip. And even that’s being generous.

Self Insert Protags are generally only pulled off well when they’re done in the manner of Dark Souls or other similar games. Where you have complete control over a blank canvas. When the games try to assign character to them it commonly becomes a conflict between you and their established character.

Link hits a similar area where he sort of it is supposed to represent you but at the same time is his own individual. It’s a conflict that commonly just feels like trying to hit a middle ground that would be better off going to either side.

@Tsurii I believe what they mean when they say Byleth is detached/cold comes more from internal emotions rather than external expression. Much like how a person can interact fine with others but despite that feels distant and unable to understand others deeply.

@JaxonH Honestly, I went Hard/Classic (as I have for all recent Emblem games), and the "hard" difficulty here feels like "normal" difficulty. I wonder if Lunatic will actually be approachable in this game, or if it'll be some insane jump in difficulty.

If "Lunatic" difficulty is a somewhat harder difficulty that restricts the divine pulses a bit, I'll be perfectly happy with it.

@Tsurii I’d like to discuss more because I actually do find that aspect of Byleth’s character interesting, but don’t want to spoil stuff. So maybe another time

@Ralizah
I’m tempted to skip all future paralogs, and distribute XP evenly to my 3 new recruits (Flayn, Raphael and Shamir) to minimize any further over-leveling, but given the rewards I just got for the last paralog, i’m not sure I can bring myself to do that.

Oh well. It’s still fun.

@AlternateButtons

Well, healers gain some experience from healing, so try to make sure you rely on Lindhart for most of your healing needs, when possible. Also, it helps to put some points into Reason so that your healer can use offensive spells. Once he knows a spell or two, weaken enemies and have him finish them off. It's a good tactic to quickly level up a weak unit. Although lvl 9 at Chapter 7 seems pretty low, so you'll want to prioritize his development ASAP. I recommend taking advantage of optional battles whenever possible that have lower level enemies than the paralogues and story missions you've likely unlocked by now. Quests are a good opportunity for EXP grinding as well.

Dunno what you mean by "time skip effect."

As to recruiting people, you should know that the higher your support rank with them, the less picky they are about you having their preferred stats. So return lost items to them, invite them to events that improves your affinity with them, give them gifts, etc. until you rank up with them at least once. After that, spamming tea time is a good way to boost your support level with them. They seem to accept or turn down your invitations randomly, so be sure to save before each attempt, and soft-reload if they turn you down (or if the tea time doesn't go over well).

Shove gifts down their throat like there’s no tomorrow. Doesn’t matter if they have a liking for the particular gift or not. It’s better if they like the gift because you get two hearts but even if they don’t you still get a heart.

So for example, I set my eyes on Raphael because I want a Great Knight, and have decided to let Edelgard go down the story route class. So every single gift I had in my bag I gave to him. It didn’t take long to hit support level B, and when that happened he asked to join my team. At that point the skills don’t even matter

@Ralizah Pretty sure @AlternateButtons wants to know what isn't possible after the 5 year time skip.

Oh my gosh, this game never fails to impress!

Not only did they do multiple support levels for every possible combination within each house, which even then is a monumental number of supports, they even made supports for students in different Houses...

Let that sink in. 9 units choosing combinations of 2, times 3 supports each... 3*(9C2) = 108 combinations per house, or 324 combinations total, and that’s not even counting supports with knights, teachers and staff! But if you factor in supports between students of different houses too... dear goodness. The total has to be at least 3x that amount!

Now, I’m not sure if there are three full supports for every pair, but even if you subtract a few that’s still an incredible number of combinations.

I just watched a Support between Caspar and Raphael, and it was magnificent. It was just... so like both of them. I love how some supports the people get along really well and yet in other supports people hate each other‘s guts... and then you see everything in between.

Hey guys, I've been avoiding this thread to avoid story spoilers, but can anyone tell me - or link me to - something that explains how high you need to raise skills to recruit characters? I'm on Chapter 5 and have had several battles with an empty slot on the board - I don't like that. I'd really like to get someone.

I've seen lists that tell me which stats are needed - which is pointless cause the game already does that. But I haven't seen anything about how high. Seems absurd to think you need to max out the needed stats because that would mean it would take really long to get anyone.

@Heavyarms55 It’s usually just a C Rank in the skill, with around 15+ for the stat and a C Support. However the higher your support with them the easier and lower the Stat and Weapon Rank can be.

For Example. I recruited Raphael despite having a D+ in Heavy Armor because I got a B Support with him. I’d recommend focusing mainly on the support since it’s easy to build through gifts and such.

@-Green- So it is both support and stats then? I had heard it was one other the other.

For anyone who resets for small stuff. You can press L + R + minus + plus and you'll be taken to the menu screen directly. You don't have to close the game.

@Heavyarms55 No, it's both. The skill requirement is lessened the higher your affinity with the character. So giving them gifts and enjoying tea time with them to rank them up a support level or two is a better use of your time than leveling up a stat on MC that you won't use.

As has been said, by the time you get to B-rank affinity, you can usually pass their test with D-level stats.