This review contains spoilers
There's a lot to unpack but I enjoyed this game despite not gelling with a few mechanical and stylistic choices of the game. The setting of the game is a highlight, with the "calendar" system reminding me of Persona 5 in the best ways. The choices of exploring the academy or getting into battles helped the game pacing for me a lot.
The "anime-style" writing does not appeal to me, but the characters are well-written! I enjoyed learning about how everyone has daddy-issues. The interactions between characters was a personal highlight despite the support scenes almost dragging at times. More context of the lore/setting would have helped me better situate the contexts for these characters and the stakes of personal and overarching conflicts. If I have the only character from Duscur, give me everything about the Tragedy of Duscur. Put colors on the map to indicate who controls what parts of the continent PLEASE.
Mechanically the game was great as an introduction (or reintroduction) to tactics style games. The tactics side of Three Houses was at its best when it gave me interesting scenarios or maps with interesting terrain features. But those scenarios were few. An explanation of the classes or stats would have helped me out a lot. I realized too late in the game that I should have focused on more than one or two skills if I wanted my characters to all be one of the Master classes. Gave me the classic XCOM "oh no I messed up 20 turns ago" feeling, which I don't like when it comes to teaching the students.
I did like the interpersonal conflicts focused on in the Blue Lions campaign. Seeing how class interacted with each other given they'd grown up with each other was a fun. The complexity of their relationships is impressive, kudos to the writers. I do wish I had more context within the lore of the world, because it was hard for me to feel the weight of the personal conflicts the characters dealt with. Dimitri and Edelgard's relationship is interesting and complex, but it's hard to situate that conflict within the world-setting given how little world lore they gave me.
It's a delight of a game, and there are emotional highs that'll stick with me for along time. Kudos to the devs for making a delightful game I stumbled through.
The "anime-style" writing does not appeal to me, but the characters are well-written! I enjoyed learning about how everyone has daddy-issues. The interactions between characters was a personal highlight despite the support scenes almost dragging at times. More context of the lore/setting would have helped me better situate the contexts for these characters and the stakes of personal and overarching conflicts. If I have the only character from Duscur, give me everything about the Tragedy of Duscur. Put colors on the map to indicate who controls what parts of the continent PLEASE.
Mechanically the game was great as an introduction (or reintroduction) to tactics style games. The tactics side of Three Houses was at its best when it gave me interesting scenarios or maps with interesting terrain features. But those scenarios were few. An explanation of the classes or stats would have helped me out a lot. I realized too late in the game that I should have focused on more than one or two skills if I wanted my characters to all be one of the Master classes. Gave me the classic XCOM "oh no I messed up 20 turns ago" feeling, which I don't like when it comes to teaching the students.
I did like the interpersonal conflicts focused on in the Blue Lions campaign. Seeing how class interacted with each other given they'd grown up with each other was a fun. The complexity of their relationships is impressive, kudos to the writers. I do wish I had more context within the lore of the world, because it was hard for me to feel the weight of the personal conflicts the characters dealt with. Dimitri and Edelgard's relationship is interesting and complex, but it's hard to situate that conflict within the world-setting given how little world lore they gave me.
It's a delight of a game, and there are emotional highs that'll stick with me for along time. Kudos to the devs for making a delightful game I stumbled through.