The only reason I'm giving this game a 5 star rating is because of Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea. They're the only reason why I enjoyed this game so much.

This game should not have four routes. The concept of four perspectives in a war is great, but it falls flat when the main narrative is only really about Edelgard against the church. Dimitri and Claude are ultimately not important to the main narrative. Personally, I don't even understand why Dimitri and Claude are lords, because they're frankly pretty insignificant compared to Rhea and Edelgard. That's why the routes are kind of a mess.

Silver Snow is just..such wasted potential it's infuriating. It should have been Rhea's route and focus more on her and the lore around the Nabateans. But we got a random lore dump in Claude's route instead. SS should also have focused more on Edelgard and Byleth, because it's the route where you're choosing to fight against your student, but we got nearly nothing out of it. Over the course of the narrative Byleth is given the option to dissent to the war, to express her desire to not fight, and at every time Byleth's worries and desires are ignored and overruled. The route could have also explored Byleth being nothing more than a vessel in general, but all we really got was Seteth taking the lead. Rhea got done dirty
and that's really a shame.

Verdant Wind is nothing more than a carbon copy of Silver Snow, so if a route got the poorest treatment then it's this one. There is a reason this route is full of unnecessary cutscenes and the final boss being nothing more than an ass pull. The music was great, though! I like Claude's design and his personality is intriguing, but the way he was implemented into this game was just not good. He kind of felt out of place? Claude feels like a character who needs his own game, where the plot focuses on his goals etc., because in 3H they fall flat.

Sadly, I have really nothing nice to say about Azure Moon, since it ignored every story aspect in favor of a half-assed "redemption arc". While playing this route I noticed that this is nothing more than a hyperfocussed Gary Stu storyline that gives the rest of the cast barely any room to breath and develope outside of directions beneficial to Dimitri. Everything is focused on him and his manpain. All characters around him are nothing more than sad looking bystanders doing absolutely nothing. Byleth has no agency whatsoever in this route. AM!Byleth is probably my least favorite character in the whole game. The choices you get there feel like they're straight out of a otome game. You see Dimitri killing and torturing his enemies, leading suicidal charges, dooming his army and taking his Kingdom down with him. He even admits killing innocent people and children and treats Byleth and his comrades like absolute shit, but all you can say as the protagonist are lines like "I miss the old you" and I hated it. Dimitri's actions literally didn't have any consequences for him. AM is just about letting Dimitri go wild while his "friends" and Byleth are babysitting him or are feeling sorry for him. If the characters were given the chance to act and talk like normal people then AM would fall apart and the "Savior King" would look bad in his own route. Dimitri just does not work to improve himself whatsoever. In one moment he is a dangerous, aggressive boar who enjoys spilling blood, then in the other he is suddenly the Savior King and everything beforehand is forgotten. I just can't call this poorly written development a redemption arc. That would require Dimitri to exercise a modicum of self-reflection and act on the results, but he doesn't.

Honestly, I think AM should be a bad end and Dimitri shouldn't get a "redemption". Because the plot twist that you're fighting for the wrong side and go down with the Boar King would be a perfect fit for AM. I mean, the route is already actively ignoring the main narrative to begin with and ends kind of on a "bad note"(status quo still exists etc), so they could have gone all the way. At the end AM felt like an edgy side story that desperately forced a "happy ending". Outside of his route Dimitri is pretty irrevelevant. He dies off-screen in 2 routes and in Crimson Flower he is also nothing more than an obstacle. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I dislike or hate him as a character, because in concept he sounds really interesting. But the execution was very poor.

Crimson Flower is sadly shorter than the other routes and lacks some cutscenes, but the narrative is the most complete and satisfying compared to others imo. I also like that there were no filler maps where you're fighting against some lame bandits. The narrative is progressing steadily with unique maps and without any interruptions and I loved that. You could argue that some things are missing like Shambhala but considering that AM's plot was rushed even though it had 22 chapters..yeah, I feel satisfied with CF's final battle. Did I want to fight TWSITD? Sure, but at least it's the most unique route with different maps and monastery dialogues. Edelgard is an amazing character and the Black Eagles have a great dynamic. They fulfill the found family trope pretty well. The fact that they're the only house that stays together after the timeskip speaks volumes. Also Byleth gets some agency in that route and her heartbeat and original hair color back (which I like way more than the mint green). I love that CF makes you reaffirm your decision to stay with Edelgard, because narratively it's one of the most important bits in the game. It's Byleth actively choosing for herself what she wants, and not what someone else has chosen for her, for the first time in her life. It's the entire point of CF. Byleth making a decision for herself literally leads directly to her regaining her humanity and getting to live an ordinary life. It’s so good how in other routes Byleth is thrust into a position of power for her immortal lifespan - Archbishop or Queen. In CF she’s free. She didn’t just help Edelgard reclaim the future for everyone, she reclaimed the future for herself. With that being said, it's an absolute shame that Byleth can't talk. I get that silent protagonists are popular in jrpgs, but Byleth being also one in a story and character driven game like Three Houses was just a huge mistake.

I'm also glad that this route didn't remove Rhea from her agency. Rhea is amazing in CF because she is not some poor corrupted soul that needs to be tragically taken down. Also we get to see Rhea/Seiros being unhinged (like in the very first cutscene of the game) and I loved it.

Another reason why I love CF is because it shows the emotional growth of Edelgard. Seeing her open up to Byleth and the Black Eagles is quite endearing. She has complex and very relatable, sympathetic views. Edelgard's idelogies and character resonated with me even further when I saw how much despair there was in her situation, where there's an immense ammount of conviction behind every word, drive behind every action, making it feel so gratifying to see it to the end in CF moreso than any other route. Edelgard has a well developed character arc that is thoroughly built-up and impactful where the game doesn't relent showing how her traumatic experiences have so much of an impact on her or highlighting her more questionable acts and how that affects her. She is also a powerful axe-wielding badass with an immaculate design and can be an adorable dork sometimes.

As I said, this game is unfinished and way too amibitious. It was definitely in development hell and should have been delayed again. But I really think Three Houses should only have two fleshed out routes (SS and CF). Because even if they had more time, AM's story would stay the same and Claude would still feel out of place.

But oh well, I still loved Edelgard's story and her impact on other routes. She is easily the greatest fictional character of all time for me and the only reason I enjoyed this game in the first place. So you could say I only love Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Rhea (some other characters as well) and not the whole game.

Way too toothless an experience in my opinion, and for all it feigns interest in it's characters I was surprised how little actual effect your decisions have on them. While the game tries to argue against the harsh tribalism that defines wartime, it's mechanics betray the opposite: if somebody is on your team they will stay there no matter what you do, even if it makes no sense for their particular character. While I suppose this is meant to provide the player with the feeling of freedom , for me it had a more constrictive effect. I knew I could never make characters hate me or leave my class unless the story dictated it must occur (as it does in the Edelgard route when a very small handful of possible recruits will leave). Maybe this seems unfair but honestly, this is stuff that even a morally unimaginative company like Bioware had figured out in the late 2000's...characters should fight, even if they're on the same team, and the protagonist should actually have to make a stand and not just say whatever they know will make the support ranking go up while knowing that later they'll say the complete opposite. If you're going to make a story about the tragedy of decaying friendships, the characters actually have to have friendships that can decay in the first place.

I can't help but compare this to Genealogy of the Holy War, which of course I'm crazy for. I had characterized the writing in that game as broad but I realize now that it's actually highly efficient. The way the game presents these characters is mostly only seen through the opening cutscenes of a chapter, with the occasional vignette between units sprinkled in (if you spend a turn using the talk command on the battlefield). There is so much less dialogue compared to the hours and hours that can be found in Three Houses, and yet the characters in Genealogy were so much more vibrant to me after only a single playthrough. They felt as if they lived outside of me, that they had moments in their lives that I was not privy to. I could imagine the relationships between them in my head, imagine their downtime between battles as well as their maneuvers during combat. When characters in Genealogy of the Holy War get married, there isn't a cutscene, or even any dialogue. In fact the only thing that clues you in is that now the married units can exchange gold with each other. I felt the connection between these people even if it wasn't actively shown, and because of that the tragedy of their eventual fates hit all the harder. It's a narrative that felt spacious in a way that made me realize how constrictive so many games that present you with "moral dilemmas" actually are.

I'm rambling now so apologies, I'm not a writer. I guess the best way to sum up my feelings is that in Three Houses I felt that I was playing for the story, but in Genealogy I was just...playing the story.

the class system is horribly flawed and the academy shit makes me want to tear my hair out bc i hate dating sim-like mechanics but edelgard is a revolutionary in the realest sense. most of the other students are far better characters than 2010's fire emblem games deserve too, the way the sociopolitical world enters their lives in these insidiously interconnected ways just makes el's cause more just. and i enjoy that the protagonist expresses herself only through choices, makes her feel both more like a PLAYER-character and a weird endearing robot woman at once somehow.

Three Houses has the best cast out of any Fire Emblem game, a very memorable soundtrack and an interesting narrative.

While the monastery might look cool and engaging at first with all the activities, after a couple of hours you'll realize it's basically just filler content to artificially extend the game's length. This is especially a problem if you plan to play through the game multiple times to experience all the different routes, as the monastery always stays the same with a few minor changes depending on your current house.

The gameplay itself is also weaker than what entries like Fates or Engage have to offer, as many units in the different houses feel very similar (with different passive abilites) and some students easily overshadow others in terms of general usefulness.

Despite these issues, I would still absolutely recommend at least one playthrough of Three Houses to experience the game for yourself - it's hard to describe. I can just say that the characters and soundtrack have stuck with me a long time after finishing the game.

i think three houses is a step in the right direction for a franchise that has become a hollow shell of itself barring the one remake we've gotten since the start of "modern" fire emblem, but ultimately three houses is just "okay" and another entry that confirms that the series, while not necessarily on a consistent decline in quality, struggles to reach too much higher than awakening and fates.

in terms of actual gameplay, there's a lot to be said about the fact that it is blatantly unfinished based on the state of the individual routes, but that isn't really here nor there for me. regardless, this might be the absolute worst game in the series in regards to the actual game. if any fire emblem game has me thinking "i'd honestly rather play binding blade right now, that game was more well designed" then there isn't much positive to say gameplay wise. some of the most bland and uninteresting maps the series has to offer, and in between these maps, you have the monastery. the monastery is honestly the 2nd worst thing fire emblem has ever done, only losing out to fates somehow making its already weak story worse to let you fuck your siblings. not only does it break any flow that you might have somehow managed to build up gameplay wise, it makes the execution of the story fall on its face completely. i can not get invested in this continental conflict when after every minor skirmish we go all the way back to the monastery in the center of fodlan to do tedious chores, just to go all the way back to the front lines the next day. at least other fire emblem games that use a base camp had the decency to have the base camp make sense for the story instead of a static area you go back and forth from.

in terms of other things this game does worse than other games, the support system is at its absolute worst in this entry, leaving crucial character development exclusively in them while letting you do as many as you want. you might think this would let characters get more development and growth or whatever, but instead it makes it so these characters are in this groundhog day loop in regards to progressing as characters/people. the worst thing fire emblem ever did to the support system was remove the limit on how many supports a unit can have. aside from that, the characters are pretty alright and you're bound to find a few that you latch onto. they aren't jugdral or even blazing blade levels of good, but they aren't awakening/fates levels of bad either, they actually tried this time.

in terms of characters, the lords are actually really well done for the most part. some of the best moments in the game come from the conflict of edelgard and dimitri who are two insanely compelling characters, some of the best lords in the series even, but the game decides that they were a bit too interesting for a modern fire emblem and makes sure any interesting aspects of them are shoved to the wayside by the end of the campaign with dimitri easily getting the short end of the stick with how much they ruin him. your main character byleth is also literally nothing and honestly i prefer it to corrin at the very least, i'd rather the my unit be boring than insufferable, especially with how three houses can be with character writing. in that regard the game also struggles and fails to make characters like rhea sympathetic to anyone who actually paid attention to her character for some reason which has never made sense to me, pretty sure none of the lords other than seteth are too particularly happy that she is around and in a position of power. i could go on for hours about how odd the writing is for three houses, but i won't because outside of the base flimsiness that's apparent with it i do like a bit of it.

in terms of stuff i actually liked, the game has a lot of really cool concepts and i honestly think it's one of the best in the series at a conceptual level. there's some small stuff like the game itself feeling vaguely like a love letter to genealogy of the holy war in a lot of ways, which is somewhat appreciated even if it fails quite a bit to capture anything that game had, but the perceived attempt at least inspires a small amount of home for the future of the series. in regards to what is unique to three houses, if you play the game right (i.e. not poaching too many/any of the students from other houses or only grabbing a few that have obvious connections to another student) the 2nd half of the game has a ton of really great character moments, with the excellent track "paths that will never cross" accenting each encounter. seriously, please play three houses this way, it makes the game so much more enjoyable. the soundtrack also has a few bangers like "god shattering star", a song that you can tell they made because of how good echoes's "lord of a dead empire" was.
there's also a lot of moments from this game i absolutely love, practically every important cutscene that has both edelgard and dimitri in it is at least to an extent a contender for my top 10 fire emblem moments, and claude is pretty great too even if he's fumbled in every route that isn't his own. the ashen wolves from this game's dlc are also some of the best modern fire emblem characters and they made repeat playthroughs way less insufferable.

in the end, fire emblem three houses to me is at its core a confirmation that awakening and fates' mutual success was all intelligent systems needed to treat the two as a soft reboot for the franchise that would influence how the series progressed in the future, with remakes seemingly exempt. it's not a revelation i'm happy with and in a way it feels like something i care about is dead outside of the memories i shared with it and the absurd high quality they seem to only want to relegate to the remakes, but there are still nuggets of something good that will keep me attached to it for a long time. not sure if i think that's a good thing though. the next game in the series, engage, is a delayed anniversary title and the leak that gave us a ton of engage info months and advance stated a fire emblem 4 remake was also being worked on, so it's going to be a while until we can truly say where fire emblem will be going from here, but three houses at the very least can give me a small amount of hope that there will be things to like as the series goes forward, even if it continues to stray from its glory days.

I'll be brief.

Aren't hobbies supposed to pass time, instead of filling it? What it means to finish a game? Specifically, I almost never finish at 100% of progress games for lack of practicality, but if you consider the games I play, like Tactics Ogre, and their inane prerequisites for a 100% clear, you can see where I come from. One thing is achievement hunting, one thing is saying "yep, there's nothing else left in this for me". Hope I make sense.

Why then does Fire Emblem: Three Houses, or as the fans call it, 100% Walkthrough, ALL ROUTES, keep locking content behind routes? I understand the need to have a complex and definitive experience, with no clear canon, but the clumsiness and game design show another picture. There's three routes in the game, of which ... only one could be considered necessary. Repetitiveness of gameplay loop between monastery trips, fun for the first five minutes, and recycled battle maps can do only so much good for enjoyment.

I felt like I had to play this game just to be done with it and it's not a good indicator of enjoyment and fun. I stepped back, took a break from games altogether, came back last week and cleared all routes. It's frustrating, yes, because there's merit in it. There's a sparkle of good characterization, clear understanding of what makes a good Fire Emblem, but then it's snapped back to reality thanks to awkward choices.

Here's a couple examples:

- I feel like this game is bloated with content, while keeping to a single route and developing that single one Blue Lions would've done wonders, it would've addressed so many odd moments in the other routes as well. No spoilers, but if you know, you know.
- There was no need to choose the route to pick so early in the game. I hope you enjoy playing the same 10-12 chapters each new game!! when there's also BUILT IN a way to borrow units around your level. Huhhhh let me PLEASE have all units have that standard build and let me skip half the game please.
- Map design is barren. There are probably two or three good maps, and while other games in the franchise like Awakening like to at least present you a set piece, Three Houses really likes to put you through unimpressive ground and grass textures all the time.

These kind of flaws really shine through once you realize, in order to experience the full brunt of the game, you have to play through all three four routes. It leads to confusion, it leads to frustration; for goodness' sake choosing the Golden Deer faction because you like their characters (fair enough) is paramount to NOT understanding important plot points because it takes for granted that you've played the other two routes, and now you're ready for a third point of view.

I understand where the love for the game comes from. The soundtrack is stellar, the game's very accessible and the battles and classes are very hands-off, reward experimentation and being able to influence units' growth is also very fun. The characters and themes of the game give a lot of think about and offer interesting counterpoints to each other in their support conversations and there's no clear best or worst unit in terms of balance, characterization (except a very dull middle aged man) and build. Still, no reason to put permadeath when all characters are supposed to be important, but you do you, "Intelligent" System, this kind of game design doesn't incentivize iron man runs, at all.

I don't want to be bitter, I think I liked this game. I'll talk about the DLC in another review, at least I'll be able to skip all the monastery chicanery and jump straight to the maps, which made me not want to play the game ever again after 200 hours.

I never want to play this game again and every time I see people arguing about it I actively regret ever associating with the fanbase just a bit.

The first playthrough was pretty fun, though. The world is pretty intriguing until you realize that what you saw on your first run was basically exactly what you get for the rest of them. I like the overall cast a lot, mainly the Golden Deer, even though Marianne as a character has been permanently ruined for me by weebs on one of those meme subs.

Overall it's kind of a weird game to rate because it feels like it's both deserving and undeserving of its accolades if that makes any sense. But I appreciate the scope so whatever. I would have liked it more anyways if I didn't cram 2.5 playthroughs in expecting they'd actually do something interesting with the multiple perspectives.

I could type up 6 paragraphs about why the story is ambitious and (mostly) well written, with great world-building, very interesting characters that all have incredibly different and unique, realistic and relatable personalities, emotions and goals they strive towards and how there's a strong sense of grey morality or how the gameplay is refined and fun with a new Langrisser style battalion mechanic that makes you feel like you're fighting full scale epic wars, the battle animations are stylish and smooth, the maps are well designed and have tons of variety or how the Persona-like school social/time management system adds an extra dimension to the tactical gameplay...

Or I could just tell you Edelgard is one of the best written, relatable and most realistic characters I've seen in a long time and best girl and you should honestly play the game for her and her story alone. Long live the emperor and hail to the Black Eagles.

Fire Emblem is the Pokémon of the Strategy Role-Playing genre.

While it can be fun at times, it's very causal and is designed for meatbrains. In its decades since the first game’s release in 1990, there has not been enough innovation to warrant its prolonged, continued existence. For example, the stories and narratives of this series is almost always low quality and shallow, like the Megami Tensei series. It's always "Hot people good, ugly incest breed, run by dragon lord bad". Even when it goes into more humanizing elements of its antagonists, it's far from the first game to do such a thing. 1994's Langrisser II had a lot of humanization in many of its main baddies. And it's fleshed out remake, 1995's Der Langrisser, included the option to side with those people. 1995's Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics included well fleshed out narratives and horrific war-based stories. In those two games, it truly feels as if you are fighting in a horrific state conflict. In Fire Emblem, it just feels like 10 or so people fighting, like in a JRPG. While cutscenes may say otherwise, this immersive feel is critical during gameplay. And Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics truly show that in their gameplay. The dating simulation elements of Fire Emblem are truly barebones. 1996's Langrisser III and Sakura Wars are two examples of dating sim elements in SRPGs. While Langrisser III's dating sim content is horrific in its ending outcomes, Sakura Wars is an amazing example of a Doukyuusei clone, while being extremely original. The true innovation of the series, like in 1996's Genealogy of the Holy War and 1999's Thracia 776, were completely and immediately scraped, never to be used again. Genealogy's level design is grand and immersive. They never did it again. Thracia 776, being a very challenging endurance with major changes to the core gameplay and RNG, was forgetten about. And the core gameplay as never innovated. Yes, other SRPG series don't innovate much with the core gameplay. However, those series don't live long. Langrisser only was around for 7 years, and got 5 games. Shining Force was around for 6 years, and got 3 games. But Fire Emblem has outlived those series, getting nearly 20 games. Any gameplay changes are regulated to spinoffs. Even Kaga ditched the square tile based gameplay in favor of hexagons, like more tradiational strategy games.

As for Three Houses, it's an awful game. One of the many lackluster strategy titles of the system. Skip it. Play a better SRPG.

What does it take to change the world? Does it require one to work within the established societal framework to improve living conditions? Or does it necessitate reaching out to those who are different from yourself to build new, stronger systems? What if you believe the world to be so foundationally rotten that the only logical recourse is not reformation, but total destruction of said systems? This is the dilemma presented in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and each ideology is displayed through the game’s three central lords. Dimitri of Faerghus, Claude of Leicester, and Edelgard of Adrestia all champion one of these lines of thought. While they may not seem to be diametrically opposed on the surface, the circumstances of Fodlan result in a peaceful resolution seeming far out of reach. Of these three opposing youths, one speaks to me personally more than the others. If you’ve taken so much as a cursory glance at my online presence, it should be readily apparent who I am speaking of. In this essay, I will be explaining what it is about Edelgard von Hresvelg that I personally find to be so compelling and why, over three years after FE16’s initial release, I still consider her to be one of my favorite video game characters.

Few in Fodlan can claim to be as privileged as Edelgard. Born as the heir to the Adrestian Empire, the strongest of Fodlan’s three nations, she seemingly has no worries in life. Power, wealth, and status are all readily available to her yet even that does not save her from Fodlan’s emphasis on crests. Imprisoned as a child, Edelgard and her siblings became the victims of blood experiments conducted by an elusive cult in an attempt to grant a single person two crests. Of her ten siblings, she was the only survivor. Witnessing the tortuous ruin of her family as well as the effects she suffered herself imparted lasting psychological trauma on Edelgard, but she is not the type to keel over. This experience instilled in her that something had to change, something like this can never be allowed to happen again. Her conviction in this belief was her strength. Despite all that she had endured, the one thing that kept her going during the darkest parts of her life was her vision for a brighter future. “As the rain falls on the path, I chase your shadow. I don’t feel a single drop or the ground below”.

Despite being granted access to practically anything she desires by virtue of being heir to the throne, the one thing that is out of Edelgard’s reach is time. Her lifespan has been drastically shortened by the blood experiments so if she wants to ensure that no one like her is created again, she has to work fast. We see this within the first hour of the game when a bandit who (unbeknownst to anyone else) has been hired by Edelgard attacks her and the other house leaders in a ploy to remove Dimitri and Claude from the equation. While this specific plan may have been foiled by the arrival of Jeralt and Byleth, we see multiple instances of Edelgard’s preemptive planning throughout the first twelve chapters. After Edelgard makes her plans for war apparent her classmate, Linhardt von Hevring, states that she “must have been making preparations for quite some time”. The most damning of her activities though is her allyship with Those Who Slither in the Dark, the very same group that conducted the blood experiments on her. Edelgard did not do this for no reason though, she did this because she needs them if she’s to achieve her dream. TWSITD are deeply ingrained within the Empire’s upper echelons to the point where her own uncle is their leader and if she were to make an enemy of them as well then she would be truly fighting a losing battle. As such, she chose to use them as best she could as a means to her ends even if she found them to be deplorable.. “Then you turn to me and I stop before I know and the lie upon my lips, I let it go”.

There is one thing though that Edelgard’s plans do not change, that she will have to spend a year at the officer’s academy all the while harboring the fact that she will throw the whole continent into war in just a year’s time. She meets people of all different backgrounds during her time at Garreg Mach, some coming from the common folk, some from lower noble houses, and even the heirs to the other two countries. She spent day in and day out surrounded by people who she knew would want her dead in just a few short months because of her actions but she had to press on for the sake of her new world. “Cross my heart, making vows I know will be betrayed”.

Edelgard is under no illusion that her schemes will grant her anything but more enemies. By lying through her teeth to everyone at the academy she knows she will be seen as naught but a manipulative warmonger when the time inevitably comes to put her plans into action. History is written by the victors, a fact Edelgard is well aware of. If she cooperates with a death cult and wages war on half the country just to lose in the end she knows she will not be remembered fondly. Her dreams for an equitable future will be far overshadowed by her heinous actions. “A sad girl’s pleas live only for a breath and then they fade”.

Despite all this not only is her conviction unwavered, it’s strengthened. As mentioned before, she meets a lot of people during her time at the monastery. People like Lysithea and Sylvain who also suffer as a result of crests. People like Dorothea and Jeritza who are victims of Fodlan’s nobility. These experiences only further cement in Edelgard’s mind that Fodlan as it stands can not be allowed to remain unchallenged. Someone has to rise up, something has to change. Edelgard felt that she alone had the moral responsibility to be the one to reign in this new era given that she’s one of the few with the power to do so. She could be yet another in a long line of rulers who sat idly by and watched as her people suffered, but that is not a future Edelgard will allow to come to pass. “As the wind calms my thoughts I hold strong on this terrace. I feel at peace, carried away by the wind’s song”.

And so, we’re here. Edelgard declares war on the church and by proxy the kingdom, shattering Fodlan’s fragile peace. This, to me, is an incredibly powerful scene. She does not attempt to reason with the church or the kingdom because trying to reason with your oppressors is a fool’s errand. This is represented in Edlegard’s change in design after the time skip. Dawned in a blood red cape and wearing literal devil horns, Edelgard becomes the very embodiment of the demon that the church fears. You can not attain freedom while looking like a good person in the eyes of your oppressors, this is what you have to become. Taking such extreme measures was the only way to ensure a better future for humanity. People will die in this war, but people are dying as a result of those systems right now. Fodlan’s facsimile of peace is not worth the countless lives that will be lost in the time it would take for gradual reform to have any effect. Those in power could live comfortably for the rest of their lives while working on these reforms but the same cannot be said of their subjects. Such a violent outburst was the natural result of these brutal, irrational systems.

This was a choice that many struggled to understand. Those from the Alliance couldn’t reconcile with why she would go this far. People from the Church and Kingdom wanted her dead. Most notably, Edelgard’s declaration of war as well as outing herself as the Flame Emperor destroyed Dimitri. Enraged by what he perceived to be flippancy towards the bloodshed her actions will inevitably cause, he wants to violently murder Edelgard. While this may seem like an extreme reaction, it’s only natural that he would feel this way. How could he understand her gripes with the nobility and crest systems? He has no shortage of support systems available to him and unlike Edelgard he walked away from his traumatic experiences physically unscathed. While he is still a victim of both systems he has not suffered to nearly the same extent that Edelgard has so it’s understandable that he wouldn’t harbor the same hatred as her.

Throughout several encounters between the two, Dimitri always makes it a point to bring up that Edelgard’s new world will be forged in blood. “Someone must put an end to the cycle of the strong trampling the weak” Dimitri says, yet how are you to stop that cycle if you don’t gouge it at its core? Edelgard’s new dawn may be built atop a mountain of corpses but could that self same statement not be made of the Fodlan we see in 1180? It’s clear as day that Dimitri wants positive change to come to Fodlan but he lacks the backbone to make it a reality. He is admittedly able to make quite a bit of progress as evidenced by the character epilogues of the Azure Moon route but in that case he’s only able to make that progress because of the actions taken by Edelgard. Had she remained docile, everything would stay as it was.

Speaking of Azure Moon, Edelgard’s death in that route is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. After her defeat, we see Edelgard kneeling on the floor while Dimitri reaches his hand out to her. This parallels two other scenes in the game, those being the encounter between Byleth and Dimitri at the beginning of Azure Moon and Dimitri’s death in Crimson Flower.

At the beginning of Azure Moon, Dimitri was at the lowest point of his life but Byleth’s kindness was able to pull him out of that. Looking at Edelgard, having shed the hegemon husk, he saw himself. A person who had been warped beyond recognition because of the world they were born into. He extended the same hand that Byleth had once extended to him. Looking at her, Dimitri calls her El upon which Edelgard smiles. During Crimson Flower, when talking to Byleth, Edelgard gives them permission to call her “El”, a nickname whose use is reserved for those closest to her. She says that there’s no one left who calls her by that name but that’s clearly not quite true. Dimitri wants to rekindle the sibling bond that they should share but life isn’t that simple, it never is when it comes to conflict. Edelgard does not dwell on the past like Dimitri does. She looks to the future and understands that this war cannot end with everyone talking it out and working on themselves, one of them has to die. In this case, Edelgard is the abject loser and this war will not end so long as she still lives. And so, Edelgard throws a dagger into his shoulder to force his hand. This is the same dagger that Dimitri gifted Edelgard when they were children under the pretense that she uses it to carve a path forward, and by throwing it into his shoulder she is returning that sentiment. Edelgard has done her part to change the world, now it’s Dimitri’s turn.

As for how it parallels Dimitri’s death, it displays the stark difference in worldview between the two. Dimitri clung to the hope that Edelgard could be saved, that his last living family member would survive this war whereas when the roles are reversed we see the extent to which Edelgard had accepted that her path would be one soaked in blood. This doesn’t mean that this was an emotionless kill for Edelgard, though. Dimitri’s last words are “to the fires of eternity with you… El…”. As discussed earlier, this nickname is one of great personal meaning to Edelgard. Part of the tragedy of her character is how she has to kill her last remaining family if she’s to create a new world. She’s hoping that in recreating Fodlan she will construct a society in which nothing like this will ever happen again.

While Edelgard doesn’t take quite as prominent a role in the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes, her actions in those stories still give us some insight into her character. During her death in these routes, she asks Byleth to put an end to her because “people across this land are killing each other”. At this point in the story, Edelgard has lost and her continued struggle would only serve to prolong the conflict so she decides to allow her death to come swiftly. If you are willing to kill for something then you must be willing to die for it as well and the possibility of her death is something that Edelgard had long since made her peace with. Afterwards we see that she made arrangements to ensure that the wider world would learn of TWSITD so that they may take them out in her stead. This shows us that she wants the best for humanity regardless if she comes out on top.

Edelgard’s relationship with Claude is far less textured than with Dimitri but it’s still worth noting. During their encounter in Verdant Wind Edelgard tells Claude that while his ideals may closely align with her own, she is not comfortable with allowing someone who can not understand the extent of the people’s suffering to take the reins. Claude has absolutely suffered greatly because of his lineage but his experiences are not as conducive to the ruler needed if Fodlan is to change. He doesn’t have nearly as intimate an understanding of how the crest and nobility systems affect both the common folk and nobility.

Claude’s seemingly biggest issue with Edelgard (and just about everyone in Fodlan for that matter) is their close mindedness. Claude’s ideal future is one in which borders are practically non-existent and people of all different backgrounds can coexist peacefully. His big problem though is that he simply isn’t knowledgeable enough on Fodlan’s history to understand how to make that dream a reality. Edelgard understands specifically that if she wants to induce large-scale societal change then TWSITD and the upper echelons of the church are what need to be eliminated first and foremost. Claude, by contrast, doesn’t even know TWSITD exist until much later in the game and due to their extensive rewriting of history he’s unable to pin down how the church negatively affects people as well. We see him start to connect the dots during the academy phase but, through no fault of his own, he still falls short. I will admit that part of the reason that Claude seems like a comparatively lackluster character is because he got stuck with a route that’s a carbon copy of another, but I don’t think discussing meta elements like that would be relevant to the purposes of this review.

The last major player within FE16’s story that Edelgard has a significant connection to is Rhea. The two actually have a lot in common. They had ten siblings who were unjustly murdered, they both rose to power in a war that was meant to extract revenge on those who harmed them, and they both went to great lengths to ensure that none would have to suffer as they had. The thing that sets them apart though is their faith in humanity. Rhea was terrified at the prospect of something like the Zanado Massacre happening again and as such chose to place herself as a figure of authority so that she may intervene should the need arise. On the other hand, we see through her endings that as soon as Edelgard constructed her new world, she stepped down from her position of power. She has faith that humanity can be allowed self-jurisdiction and as such it would be wrong for her to rule over them as Rhea once did. This is encapsulated by the theme that plays during the final moments of Crimson Flower, titled “A World for Humanity”.

Throughout these three routes, we see Edelgard as a stalwart emperor who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals. While this is true, Crimson Flower shines a different, much more human light on her. We see how she interacts with her friends and how she just exists beyond this persona of the Flame Emperor. One of my favorite scenes in the whole game is the A rank support between Ferdinand and Edelgard. Ferdie brings up his concern that the class divide will remain strong post-war due to the disparity in education. The two then work together and basically come up with the idea of public education. While some may find it concerning that Edelgard seemingly hadn’t accounted for this, what this shows is that her revolution is not meant to fix every problem in the world in one fell swoop, instead it is meant to lay the groundwork so that such developments can be made in the first place. We see through this support just how much Edelgard needs her friends to support her and pick up the slack where she can’t.

We also see through various supports and interactions that Edelgard really is just a normal girl underneath the mask. She feels emotions, she feels a connection to the people she’s fighting for, and she feels a deep love for those she depends on. Even people who she doesn’t mesh well with like Linhardt or Bernadetta are still people she wants to take into account so she can ensure a comfortable life for all in her new world. Through her interactions with some of the more devout characters, mainly Manuela, we see how she’s going to great extents to ensure that none will be left behind even if they are ideologically opposed to her.

To wrap this back to what I said in the opening paragraph, the reason I love Edelgard is that she’s uncompromising in her ideals and willing to take action against violent, oppressive systems. She believes that an ideal future is one where humans are under no obligation to follow the will of a god or king and can instead choose their own way of life. Though in truth, the real reason that I love Edelgard so much is that I am very, very homosexual.

I had no intention of playing this game. The graphics looked kinda ugly, the franchise has never really appealed to me, and the only thing I knew about the game, the permadeath, scared more than excited me.

But, a lot of my friends were hyping the game up and, like a chump, I fell for it. Purchasing a copy only a few days after it had released.

And boy am I glad I did.

I'm currently on my fourth playthrough, nearing the hundred hour mark, and I still can't stop thinking about this game. The three* different storylines, the huge cast of characters, the dynamic way the writing will account for recruits and other variables, all fantastic.

What really makes this game special though is what it took from the Persona franchise, the daily calendar and stats grinding segments between proper gameplay absolutely hooked me. And convinced me to try Persona (let's just say... it paid off).

I don't think I've ever played a game like this, they achieved something quite special.

The first route you play is going to be very influential since that is how you are going to interpret the story and it is probably going to be the characters and the ideal that you have the most affection for.

Each route has its weight and I strongly recommend playing them all, don't get stuck with just one.

Each faction has its point of view and each route has its pros and cons to be considered canon or not, really at the end of the day the game doesn't really have antagonists (with a few exceptions) or a canon route, it all depends on the perspective and what is the ideal you want to follow.

The story has really epic moments and many others that are going to make you feel countless emotions, and it intensifies more with each new route you do since you are going to know all the background of the characters from other routes.

This new entry also adds a new free roam mode where you can walk and interact with other characters in the school, to be honest, is cool at the beginning, and talking with each character in the school is always cool but regarding the activities, there's not that much to do, and the few activities that are available don't really matter that much, so at the end of the day, you will just probably just go talk and skip most activities because they're just there to get a few goodies and to make the game longer, they get kinda monotone and boring.

The soundtrack has really memorable songs and in summary it is good, the weakest area of the game is definitively the graphics, many low-quality textures, and many scenarios that do not look that good, the character models are probably one of the few only things that it looks really good in terms of visuals along with the cutscenes.

Leaving that aside strongly recommended title!

My first route was Crimson Flower (Edelgard's Route)

And I did each one in the following order:
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Crimson Flower (Edelgard) > Silver Snow (Church) > Azure Moon (Dimitri) > Verdant Wind (Claude)
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