Topic: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I feel so stupid, I just discovered the support conversations buried in the menu yesterday.....I have some catching up to do.... IF there's one big flaw of FE, it's that it has so many things in it that you might not even know exist if you're not an FE regular (applies to important battle facts, as well.)

This game is so huge. I'm still in chapter 3. I did some minor "grinding" with all the available intermission battle missions and brought my team up to level, got some gold for some seals etc... That alone took forever (though I haven't been getting much time to play.)

That said I was getting brutalized with the mission where you just start out in a field and get ambushed by a bunch of enemies in the round. It says recommended level 5, but I couldn't get through it without losing at least 3-4 people. No matter where I moved my (Black Eagles) mages/Bernie it's like the enemy would bee-line for them and one shot them. I haven't had much problem with anything else, though I also can't figure out the whole "non weapon triangle triangle" this time...what's good against what? I play FE in "casual" mode so I don't have to have the whole campaign halted by such difficulties, but I generally still play as though I'm in classic mode and restart when I lose someone (except that battle.)

Also, the time rewind thing was a needed feature in this series for soooooooo long! I know they added it in Echoes, but I'm so happy they put it in this one!

@NEStalgia
The forecast feature shows you who will attack who, and if you're thinking of moving someone somewhere, before you finalize it, check for any aggro lines to see who will attack you (and before you move, you can hover over any enemy and itll put a crosshair over who they are most likely to attack, as well as show the expected damage to them down at the bottom).

Make sure you dont put someone with low defense against a heavy hitter. And always ensure Bernie has a Mini Bow equipped so she can counter 1 space away (though a learned skill will later address that for any weapon). And use battalions like Impregnable Wall if needed, which can ensure all damage dealt and received is 1 HP. If you have such a battalion.

Also best to bait the enemy out by putting just one person barely in their attack range to drawn them out one by one, so you dont get 2-3 people swarming one character. Use ZR to highlight the attack zone, and if you have fliers later in the game, press A on any archers to also highlight their attack zones in red so you can steer clear of sure death. Also, if every move you make will result in the enemy killing you, best to just move out of the danger zone entirely. Patience is key. But I've found the best defense is usually a good offense.

As for weapon triangle, it shows up with skills like sword breaker, axe breaker and lance breaker. But generally you just experiment and see what works best. You can toggle your weapons, combat arts and even battalion in the attack menu with X/Y and ZL/ZR.

Bows are still strong against fliers. Aside from that it's mostly stats. Axes tend to have lower hit but higher MT. Swords tend to have higher hit but lower MT. Etc etc

@JaxonH Forecast feature? What's that?

Ohh, that's what those crosshairs are for...I thought that was who else was in range for the synergy bonus when attacking. Also, good info for Bernie. I don't think I have any battalions with that ability yet.

I have been taking advantage of ZR to highlight the attack zone, though I'm definitely not thorough or consistent in using it. Particularly when it comes to ranged units.

Sounds like I'm half on the right track, but not knowing the "triangle" puts me a little into RNG territory for now, and I definitely haven't figured out that forecasting system, and it sounds like that would be helpful.

For now I'm doing ok with the more strategic maps (the mountains, the empire map, etc), but that empty field/ambush just destroys me. Then again, it's just chapter 3....

Meanwhile I'm just on chapter 2, doing a battle just... uh... constantly grinding. Planning to grind 9 characters to level 10, then just constant trying to make Igrid's support to B level

@NEStalgia Oh geez. Have fun watching three hours of random conversations! I always check for support conversations before anything else, because letting them build up leads to having to binge them, which... isn't my preference.

It's definitely huge. The usual FE game takes me between 30 - 40 hours to beat, depending on how often I have to restart battles. I'm 42 hours in and haven't even hit the halfway point yet! Assuming each playthrough takes between 70 - 90 hours, and assuming four playthroughs to see all the story content, the 200 hour figure for fully experiencing the story was probably a bit of a conservative estimate.

Amazon is finally taking orders again for Fire Emblem Three Houses, in stock on August 12th. And for just $49.99 so hey, back in stock and at a good price!

Fire Emblem Three Houses Amazon

@JaxonH That's kind of the thing for me - I don't really like just putting artbooks on the bookshelf, which is why I rarely buy them. I'd rather just get posters or tapestries to hang on my walls - though recently they have been harder to find or limited to more... adult content. I actually like that sort of thing, but usually not on my wall.

@Heavyarms55
Art books I like for looking through. I don’t really display my art books, as I have 50 to 60 of them on my bookshelf. But the small FE artbooks included with special editions and as preorder bonuses, they make nice additions to my FE shelf. Notice the Awakening, Fates and Three Houses artbooks

But my Art of Fire Emblem Awakening book just doesn’t have room to fit. Stuff like this goes on the bookshelf, and is best for browsing gorgeous art from time to time.

@JaxonH Man that is hella cool! Major kudos to you! Thanks for sharing!

Oh my gosh, Flayn is too precious. Gotta watch her support with Raphael. It’s classic.

Btw, the Switch says 85 Hours put into Fire Emblem so far. This game is so gosh dang good! I just played a killer paralog traveling to the island nation of Brigid to ask her father for war support, and got ambushed halfways through the map, killing Flayn and myself. Reinforcements and immediate action. Thank you Divine Pulse... whew! Apparently there were certain tiles that triggered it. Then, after rewinding I landed on a different one that triggered reinforcements, not an ambush, and in smaller number. Then I triggered the full ambush reinforcements 2 turns later, but they didn’t ambush me, it was just reinforcements. So many different trigger tiles and outcomes.

Just passed 6 certs into Master Classes, and it feels great! Well earned Dorothea, well earned Flayn, well earned Frederick, well earned Bernie, well earned Alois and well earned Petra. Now, to get some more gold and master seals. I’m broke.

@Heavyarms55
Always a pleasure to share the Fire Emblem Collection with fellow fans 😄

I'm taking my time trying to do a completionist playthrough, I don't want to miss anything. 55 hours in and I still haven't reached the time skip. Now the game is saying that I missed the opportunity to bond with Rhea. Ugh playthrough ruined. I'm SO annoyed right now >.> I guessed you can't do everything perfect on your first run but I feel stupid for letting this happen.

@Edelgard Oh, yeah, I got the same message about missing the opportunity to bond with Rhea. I guess the window for initiating contact is somewhat limited. I'll make her more of a priority in my Black Eagles playthrough.

No playthrough is perfect, and that’s what makes them special. You succeed in some areas, miss opportunities in others... it’s all good.

If you did everything perfectly that would take part of the thrill away of not knowing how well you’re gonna do overall.

My list of successful recruits pre-timeskip!

Bernadetta
Dorothea
Petra
Ingrid
Mercedes
Sylvain

So, practically every playable female in the game!

My waifu army will rain death upon the heads of my enemies.

I think in my gay dude playthrough I'll only recruit men. That'll be some variety. Probably my Blue Lions playthrough.

Anyone else just accidentally recruit Sylvain? I was mashing through a conversation I had already heard to give him a lost item and suddenly boom: joined my team. I had basically done nothing with him. Apparently he will join you pretty much for free if you're playing as a woman.

Anyone else pretty much just grinding by auto-battle + skipping all animation? I end up doing that and did like, 10~ battles in 20 minutes or less... Probably will do some more, I kind of want to kick Death Knight's butt twice for beating me up for our first fight.

@Heavyarms55
I heard about that. Unfortunately he didn’t join me because I’m playing as M. Byleth.

I have:

Flayn
Seteth
Alois
Raphael
Catherine
Shamir
Cyril
Hanneman
Manuela

And I have to say, Hanneman and Manuela are a match made in heaven. I wish I could marry those two. They already act like they’re married 😁

@JaxonH Hannerman and Manuela are both pretty funny. I almost died when that random npc says he went to the infirmary but Manuela was drunk and asleep on the floor. And when you find Byleth's hair in Hannerman's office!

Hey guys, this is my first fire emblem game. It feels massively overwhelming at times and the gameplay has a much slower pace in gameplay to what I'm used to. I enjoy it however I feel like I not entirely sure what I'm doing at times. Is this normal?

@Benjoo Totally normal. But I think you'll be surprised if you stick with it, because by the time you finish it you'll look back and say "wow, I thought this was overwhelming?" That's just kinda how these games work.