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Games of the Decade #17/Blog a Day #14

Hello class, how are you?

There are some game series out there that you love a lot but have stayed on the same platform for years. Not that there's nothing wrong with that if the games are good and sell well. However sometimes that hardware might start to show its age in the games that are put out for it, or the developers have simply reached the limit of what they can do with their game because the hardware is old. One series made the jump from the 3DS to the Switch and that one game in that series is Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

                                                Music in the game is really amazing ♥

Backstory time: Fire Emblem had been on the 3DS for 6 years since 2013 and since then 3 main series games and 1 spin-off have released on it. 2 of those main games are considered some of the best games in the FE frachise but I suppose after a while the developers wanted to use more powerful hardware for the next game. That's where the Nintendo Switch comes in and we got Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the first main series FE game on the Switch and it had been such a long time since an FE game was for a home console. But did the more powerful hardware benefit the series?

In many of the FE games, there's usually a war going on.as part of the plot. FE3H takes place on the continent of Fodlan which is the home of 3 (former) rival nations who are at peace. The game largely takes place in Garreg Mach Monastery where you assume the role of Byleth (the main player avatar of the game), a mercenary turned teacher who will be teaching students at the Officers Academy. You can play as either male or female Byleth and you can name your character anything you want. But regardless of what name and gender you choose, everyone will just call you Professor.

Once at the Officers Academy, you can/have to choose which school house you would like to teach. There's the Black Eagle House, the Blue Lions House, and the Golden Deer House and each house represents each of the 3 nations of Fodlan. Each house has their own group of students that you'll get to teach and you get to know more about the characters as you teach them and as time goes on. Garreg Mach Monastery serves as the central hub of the game and it's where you'll be spending your time in the various facilities.

 

                           These are just some of the students that you'll be teaching

New to the series is a calendar system which you use to plan the activities for the days you are allowed to roam freely. You can either spend time in the monastery to get to know your students or interact with the staff, you aren't the only teacher there, or you can do field exercises to train/battle. There are some days that have mandatory activities too like story related missions. However you have to manage your time wisely, like maybe you didn't level up enough and you might run into trouble in a later mission.

Like all previous FE games, FE3H is a tactical rpg and during your turn you can assess the situation like checking to see how much damage you'll give to an opponent and how much damage they'll give you. You can also move your units, your students and you can do the same thing. Each student has their own class like one of them might be an archer or a healer or a magic user. You have to get to know what each one of your units is proficient at but you can also reclass your units to a different class when certain conditions are met. Your characters can also permanently die if their HP reaches 0, but only if you decide to play in Classic Mode. Every decision you make counts. Your units retreat instead of dying if you go to Casual Mode.

"But Captain N, where can I play this game?" On the Nintendo Switch. You can either get it digitally or if you want a physical copy then go for that. I feel like this is a game you need to own a physical copy because of how good it is and since Fire Emblem games have a tendency to go out of print quick. Also if you have anyof the Fire Emblem series amiibo or the Smash Bros. ones then you can scan them in the game to unlock new music in the game and various items as well. Good luck finding them because like anything FE they go out of print fast.

                          Gameplay is largely the same but received improvements as well

Nintendo has also released an Expansion Pass for the game that adds even more content. Like the new Cindered Shadows dlc which adds a new story to the game with new characters. It will set you back $24.99. But even if you don't want to invest extra in the game, there have been free content updates which have added a number of new things. Plus the base game on its own is just filled to the brim with content that you won't need extra paid dlc unless you really want even more ouf of your game. 

Final Thoughts: FE3H was such a surprise of a game, it is simply fantastic. It did something different with its school setting and it pulled that off splendidly. The gameplay is fun and graphics look really great too. It shows how new hardware can be beneficial to a game or a series and this game is proof of that. I couldn't put down this game when I first played it, it had a story that kept me interested to find out what happened next. The game play is really fun and I just love the dialogue with all the characters. I also love that a number of things in the story change depending on which House you side with and what choices you make along the way. You will need to do all the routes to get the real complete story but you don't really need to if you just want to play through the game only once.

FE3H was originally going to be a 3DS game but they changed their mind later on when Intelligent Systems learned about the Nintendo Switch and with the help of Tecmo Koei they worked on the game together. Fire Emblem: Awakening on 3DS was the last hurrah for the series, if the game didn't sell well then Nintendo would have no choice but to shelf the series. Against all odds it sold much better than they thought and thanks to the success of Awakening is that Fire Emblem continued and we got FE3H. In a way, Fire Emblem: Awakening walked so Fire Emblem: Three Houses could run. It's a fantastic game and definitely worth playing through at least once.

                                                                     I love you too

Anyway that's all the time I got everyone, hope you enjoyed the post. I'll be back soon after class.

*All images except the first one were provided by FE3H and my Nintendo Switch*