Topic: Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

@JaxonH Glad we get another chance to dive into the lore of Fódlan! Possibly other continents as well. I'm really hyped for this game now, unfortunately I'll probably have to shelve AI The Somnium Files nirvana initiative and MH Sunbreak until after I finish all paths in Three Hopes. I'm also hoping we get some post-game content, not necessarily as expansive as Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition, but at least a few maps to play with all the characters we get from the different routes.

@Cynas
The release of Three Hopes and Sunbreak back to back is a crisis in the making for me.

I'm a diehard MH fan. I take vacation from work every time a new game releases. I have every special edition console/handheld released in the west, every game sealed on display, even drove to another town at midnight to get MH4U when it released.

The problem is, I'm the same way with Fire Emblem. Every special edition in the west, every game sealed on display... and while Three Hopes was originally a game I wasn't too excited for, I now see this is on par with Three Houses, and demands equal respect.

Idk what to do. I can't skip Sunbreak. I won't. But I'm dying to keep playing Three Hopes. Maybe I'll alternate them every other day or something. Idk.

Even if we don't get post game content, the mere fact we have 3 separate routes ensures we'll have plenty on our plate. At 20 hrs per route, minimum, that's 60 hrs total. And that's assuming no endgame (which it'll probably have also).

@JaxonH Does the demo for Three Hopes spoil anything from Three Houses or FE Warriors? I've got both but haven't got to playing them yet.

Started playing the demo. Is there any way to turn off that box that tells you your weapon combo paths? It's an eyesore, but I couldn't find a way to turn it off in the settings.

@Ralizah
It turns off after the prologue automatically

@gcunit
Not Warriors, but Three Houses absolutely. Oh my gosh yes. You definitely want to play a path in that first, unless you plan on never playing it.

@JaxonH Good job I asked then. Thank you, I'll hold off for now.

@JaxonH Tough predicament for sure! Only other thing I can think of is to try to complete at least one path in Three Hopes before Sunbreak comes out, then put it down for a while to play Sunbreak until you feel like you can set it down for a little while.

I've wanted to get into Monster Hunter for a long time now, I tried with 3 and Generations but it wasn't able to stick. When I tried Rise I loved it, but other games came out pretty soon so my attention shifted before I could really get invested into it. I think with the release of Sunbreak I'll restart my file to have a fresh start. I love action combat and grinding for gear, so I know it's the type of game I could put hundreds of hours to once I get invested.

@Cynas
Sounds like a reasonable plan. Definitely don't miss out on MH Rise- it's so incredibly good.

I've got 550 hrs in Monster Hunter Rise. The older games were a tough nut to crack, but ever since World the series is way easier to get into.

The game is so good. Top 10 of all time, easily. But Sunbreak? Oh my gosh. That new trailer shown at the Capcom event an hour ago might be the most hype video I've ever watched. Gore Magala is RETURNING from MH4U, the single most requested monster from fans. Espinas is making its debut from the JP-exclusive Frontier MMO, and Lucent Nargacuga is coming back with the Forlorn Arena... that might not mean much to you if you never beat those games, but lemme tell ya, it's hype!

You have to beat the 7 star hub quest "Serpent Goddess of Thunder" to access Sunbreak though, so if you're starting over, you'll have quite a bit of game to chew through first. Not that that's a bad thing.

lmao I was just seeing Three Hopes talk in the MH thread and now I come in here to see MH talk. The hype is infectious.

Anyways I got to the end of the demo, they cut you off right before the first big battle. The demo is very generous don't get me wrong but man. They really know how to keep that carrot dangling in front of you haha.

Anyone do Golden Eagles run yet?

Just unlocked the new base camp place. How do I upgrade weapons? So far, all I can do is buy really basic equipment.

You probably found the blacksmith by now, @Ralizah .... They're available from the 1st camp

@Ralizah
Upgrading and forging isn't available yet in the demo. It likely unlocks after Chapter 4.

Which route did you choose?

@BruceCM I only found an armorer.

@JaxonH Ah, that explains it.

Black Eagles. I already chose Golden Deer as my first route in the real game, so I wanted to try something different for this.

@RubyCarbuncle Three Hopes feels much closer to being an actual Fire Emblem game than the original FEW does. It's probably the closest I've seen one of these musou spinoffs come to resembling the source material.

Just completed the demo. While it took me a while to warm up to it, I actually ended this demo being pretty happy with this spinoff, despite the rather abrupt story pacing.

@Ralizah
I actually like the brisk story pace. Having already played Three Houses and being familiar with the plot, I think it works well to move at a faster pace in this spinoff to keep the player engaged. It also seems to be better written and fills in plot holes and events that happened off screen in the main game. I also love Shez being fully voiced. She's already one of my favorite FE protagonists. If you've seen the support convo with Lysithea in Golden Deer, Shez puts her in her place and calls out her BS, which felt long overdue.

They also improved the graphics- even the backgrounds are now 3D rendered as opposed to 2D.

2D backgrounds

3D rendered backgrounds

@JaxonH Eh...

I like games to feel complete in themselves, as opposed to merely being supplementary. Three Hopes doesn't flesh out the setting at all, and that bothers me a bit, as I feel like the characters haven't had time to connect with each-other. There's also a lack of... gravity... to the way the story is written. Like, finding out about Edelgard's betrayal and how she subsequently declares war on the church in Three Houses is devastating, even if you watched the trailers and knew something like that was coming. That moment in Three Hopes comes in two hours into the narrative and has no weight to it at all.

Also, I know some people are going gaga over the voiced main character, but Shez isn't doing much for me as a personality. I don't think I'd be disappointed if they had turned out to be another silent protagonist instead. They feel very self-inserty to me, like something you'd see in a fanfic. Tbh, the convo with Lysithea, while funny, feels the same way to me.

I do agree about the way they've touched up the image quality, though. Three Houses, as much as I liked it, was a sometimes rather ugly looking game. Three Hopes' environments and character models are noticeably cleaner in general.

I also feel like the text size is larger? I haven't had to squint at all when reading text in this demo.

@Ralizah
I mean, it is a spinoff though so I feel being supplementary is somewhat the goal. Having said that, I believe this game could be enjoyed perfectly fine by itself without playing Three Houses first. In fact I think the story would be much more enjoyable that way. It gets to the action much faster without all the empty plot holes of Three Houses that never go anywhere for the first 15 hrs of the game.

I think it does flesh out the setting. Even just in the tiny bit of prologue, you make your way to camps throughout the empire that are never shown in the main game, talk to characters referenced but never shown in the main game, even play as them. It shows Edelgard marching on the empire something that was glossed over off screen in the main game. It shows Dimitri beheading his uncle and does a much better job setting the stage for his downward spiral. The story moves at a brisk pace, but that's partly what makes it so much more engaging. I don't think the timeskip is meant to have any weight in this entry. It's a different story, with events unfolding into a domino effect diverging from the main game. And in this game, that's just not the big focus it was. And that's a good thing. It's not just rehashing the same exact events and reveals.

I've never minded silent protagonists, until now. Having played Shez it just makes Byleth's lack of personality all the more glaring. In a matter of hours I became more attached to Shez than I did to Byleth in 100 hrs. And it's not just that she speaks, it's that she has personality. She has a bit of snark. I LOVE that.

Text size is larger btw, which is made all the more evident on the 7" OLED.

Well, I did it.

I completed the demo for all 3 houses. Took me 12 hrs for Blue Lions, 5 hrs for Black Eagles and 3 hrs for Golden Deer (got faster with each playthrough).

Impressions are extremely good. I'd never played the Golden Deer in the main game so the character glow ups were all new to me. For BL I love Annette, Sylvain and Ingrid. For Black Eagles I love Petra, Bernadetta and Dorothea. For GD I love Leonie, Lysithea, Hilda. Obviously I love them all, but those are the standouts of students that aren't house leaders.

Also awesome getting Rodrigue in BL and Shamir in GD. And Petra and Hilda are like mini-Shez 2.0. They can rock some serious bodies out on the battlefield.

I love having 3 distinct save files for the 3 houses, all on Chapter 4, ready to go in the main game. Basically gets past the prologue and all the tutorial stuff, and now it's prepped and ready to go full tilt on release day.