Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (2022)

Fuck it, give me more Foldan games. This world is so cool man. Literally everything in it has me kicking my feet and twirling my hair.

Shez is a dope protag. I love the differences from Houses and Hopes in terms of story. I like getting to see DILF Jeralt in action.

Can't play as Rhea until new game+ though, so like, taking a star off. 10/10 though.

opening nods to my bias. I have been a fan of Fire Emblem since blazing blade. not just the gameplay, of which this is not a typical example (if that's not obvious), but of the world building. I have been a fan of the koei warriors games since dynasty warriors 3. Three houses was by far my favorite FE, and one of the greatest games of all time in my opinion.

So going in, what i wanted was more Three houses. after 400+hours in 3H, I wanted to know this world and it's characters more. as an alternate universe from that game, Three hopes delivers. Characters from the background get featured and are even playable. former main cast get explored more in relation to others they didn't interact with before. The interactions are still well written, but not as gay (boo).

The story, primary reason to play this, is...fine. the characters are still good but the narrative isn't as tight as 3H. It kind of falls apart and feels lazy in parts. still motivation enough to play.

The gameplay isn't the refined tactics of a main FE but a somewhat different but familiar "Warriors" game. it's not the best Fire Emblem or the best Warriors. But together it's a fine example of both.

there's not lack of things to do. campaigns for each house take a long time. There's reason to play them each twice. There are trophies and rewards to unlock. there's room to perfect your characters as you play new game + over and over. if you like that sort of thing.

Ultimately, if you liked 3H for the world, you'll have fun here. If you just want a warriors game, there are better ones. If you just want a good FE, this isn't a typical one. If you're going in unfamiliar with Three houses, you're going to be confused. Still here? go on then.

Finished the Scarlet Blaze route after 75 hours. Seems like the empire cannot defeat all their enemies in one game, can they? They have yet to take care of those who slither in the dark when Crimson Flower ended in Three Houses, and here, they are still parts of the kingdom to subdue. I commend them for calling one enemy faction as "those who slither in the dark" all throughout the game. That's quite a mouthful way to refer to a group of people.

Now I want to play Three Houses again. In a perfect world, I could do that and also go for another route in this game. Maybe someday.

Just hit chapter 9 and basically have my entire party. Wish I could have recruited Ingrid, but I'm going Scarlet Blaze and she does not seem as amenable in this as she was in Three Houses. So far, the mage classes seem incredibly lacking. Characters like Constance and Lysithea can pack a punch, but they don't seem to fare nearly as well as the melees, in particular the sword wielders mow through things ridiculously fast. Shez and Petra are unstoppable right now as swordmasters. Edelgard on her wyvern also devastates. I wish the game weren't so skimpy on resources. I don't mind having to make some decisions on what to spend currency on, but I feel very poor almost all of the time - even doing every map point that I can.

I love Edelgard's design so much in this game.

Still enjoying ordering my units around. I'm using a much wider roster of characters than I did in Three Houses because of the energized units mechanic, and I kinda like that. However, every now and then I worry that some of my units are under leveled because I try to keep the characters that do not want to fight (i.e. Linhardt and Bernadetta) away from battle as much as possible.

I lowkey wish that I went with the Golden Deer route this time around. I never really discovered what happened in that route (or any other route than the Black Eagle one), and being a member of an alliance is much appealing than that of an empire or kingdom.

So far, I think my favorite aspect of this game is giving out orders during missions. It makes me really feel like a tactical commander. Outside battle, I'm still learning the ropes with regards to training units, and I kinda miss the lecture mechanic in Three Houses.

I'm in the Scarlet Blaze path, and the war with the Church of Seiros was kinda raised abruptly here without much prior development - making it seem like it came out of nowhere. I'm excited to see how the story here would differ moving forward and also to meet the Ashen Wolves since I did not play the DLC.

You won't like it unless you meet the basic requirements that:

• You've played and enjoyed Three Houses (it assumes knowledge of the characters/world/story even though it's technically an alternate timeline)
• You find the gameplay of these games at least tolerable

Much like Three Houses, I could come up with a long list of minor gripes but the final experience is still pretty damn fun.

Finished all three routes and here's a general feeling: Pros:

• Any amount of new time with the wonderful Three Houses characters is a pro.
• Some routes (Claude's in particular) flesh out the characters in new and fun ways
• The new protagonist is easily the best Fire Emblem has had since Awakening. Having actual dialogue and a personality is a godsend.
• Combat looks nice and is snappy

Cons:

• Like 99.9% of Musou games it gets repetitive and grindy as the experience goes
• A lack of S supports or real meaningful conclusions to character supports hurts a little
• Very clearly built for possible DLC. All three routes "end" with the battle still ongoing and no real closure on several aspects of the story

All in all if you like Fire Emblem Three houses cast, or just Musou games in general I'd definitely recommend it, otherwise it should be a pretty easy pass.