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[NSW] Fire Emblem: Three Houses

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    #31
    DLC completed. It's not particularly long, less than 5 hours, and composed by eight missions. It's much closer to an old Fire Emblem (like Blazing Sword) than any recent entry in the series, as you get a small subset of characters from the main game (your avatar, the three house leaders, and three others) plus four new people which also represent four new classes.
    Characters come pre-levelled at 20 and with default classes; they can change with lower-tier jobs, but no one gains proficiency in weapons and skills, nor relationships build up; your avatat doesn't have need for a professor level as there's no school activities, just go around the new overworld and go to battle when all dialog options are gone.

    Story's nothing to write about, but it's nice and fits well with the main game; it does reveal a bit more about your avatar and his/her family, but I wanted a bit more. For example, one character has the ability to summon monsters when she sighs, and...that's it. It's not explained why, nor this ability factors in on the new classes.

    The four new classes are: Dark Flier (from previous games: flying mage), War Monk (unharmed/gauntlet user with healing magic), Valkyrie (mounted dark mage, probably female only), and Trickster (sword user with both offensive and healing magic; has one OP ability to swap place with one nearby unit and move after an action like a mounted class).

    Upon starting the DLC, the game informs that there's a limited amount of gold and smithing ore available, but that's not really a problem: pretty much every mission has one or more units carrying gold, and by halfway through the game you can spend your credits on all of the limited weapons available (killing weapons, short spears, hammers, armour slayers, levin swords) with money to spare for repairs, customised weapons, and normal tools.

    Missions are where the DLC shines: being constrained in units, resources, and with no ability to grind, missions in the DLC are harder than in the base game, and often put you against an overwhelmingly stronger force, with some objectives (usually reaching a special tile) to get the upper hand. It is a culmination of all of the skills acquired in the base game, and even in normal mode there's a good chance to lose units easily if you overextend or underestimate the enemy.

    The four new classes and four new characters become available in the main game after clearing specific DLC missions, with new quests added as well. I think all classes and characters become available before completing the DLC, while quests and loot acquired only transfers after beating the last DLC mission. Content becomes available from Chapter 2 of the main story, no matter if you have already started or it's a brand new NG/NG+.

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      #32
      Started this last week and played about 10 hours. I love it. I'm not hugely into the art style of the environments but love the characters. Having a great time getting to know the students and doing the school stuff. Battles are great as well. Fantastic game!

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        #33
        Yeah, the graphics are almost ugly, it really shows during cutscenes where you realize most textures use two or three tones with almost no detail. I still think the engine is the same as the FEs on Gamecube/Wii, only running at a higher resolution and a few more details here and there.

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          #34
          It might be the/one of the Koei Tecmo engines as they did the tech development on it. I haven't played any of the Musou games on Switch but my gut says they're rendering more of the map per camera shot in battle because these maps tend to be flatter than Musou games and the Musou games have more visual blockers. I'm probably wrong but that might explain why the environments are so sparse. The environment low texture res is probably cause by the amount of unique characters they need in memory at once. The game drops frames a lot in the school which is kind of surprising for the Koei engine so maybe it is an old Fire Emblem engine pushed up to the Switch. What's also distracting technically is that support cutscenes in the school don't use a 3D environment. They want the cutscenes to be instant and not sit through a loading screen so it looks like all the rooms in the school have been screenshotted then mapped to a cylinder mesh hidden below the world. The characters teleport to that stage and do the cutscene in a fake room with a really low res texture on it that they didn't have to stream in.

          The technical stuff doesn't really bother me as hand wringing over frame rates is for incels but I like seeing all the rough edges in a Nintendo game and thinking about the choices made to get there.

          I've started with the Black Eagles and I am really enjoying all the different personalities of the students. It is bonkers how many characters they've done and how much writing they all have. Very impressive.

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            #35
            Finished up the Black Eagles last night at around 50 hours. I felt the game was a bit too long since the tea times quickly devolve into nothing. Also the last boss gave me some trouble as you are supposed to use Gambits to break their barrier but I hadn't done that in about 40 hours since the tutorial made me do it. I had totally forgotten about that as none of the enemies that this can be used on gave me any trouble.

            Anyway, wonderful game and a real joy.

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              #36
              So, after 180 hours I've completed all the four main storylines and the DLC.
              The fourth storyline is tied to the

              Church of Seiros, and you get it by starting with the Black Eagles; first go with Edelgard to the capital in chapter 7 or something and then confronting her in a few chapters later. You'll get every Black Eagle student with the exception of Edelgard and Hubert, and unlike the main Black Eagle path, you'll also be able to recruit Hilda in your ranks.


              The fourth campaign is a mix of missions from all other three storylines, but with a new final mission...not that dissimilar from others, but has its own gimmick to it.
              Overall, it's one of the most rewarding storylines in the game, as it explains much about your character and the Church of Seiros.

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