More Thoughts From Me #203: I’m Finally Playing Fire Emblem Three Houses

Everyone kept raving about Fire Emblem Three Houses. I kept resisting the game. Don’t get me wrong: I love the Fire Emblem franchise. Fire Emblem Fates is one of my favorite 3DS games. That said, Three Houses just didn’t look good to me. But after Christmas was over, I had a chance to get another game and finally decided to give in. I’m currently playing Fire Emblem Three Houses. What do I think of it?

When Fire Emblem Three Houses was first revealed, I thought it looked neat. But after I found out a bit more about it, for instance the three houses and the school, well, I was less impressed with it. The battles looked cool but I didn’t think I’d enjoy the story or the school setting.

Finally though, I decided to get Fire Emblem Three Houses. I decided to get it because I like Fire Emblem, people were raving about it, and I wanted a new strategy game on my Switch. So now that I’ve played it, what do I think of the game?

To be honest, I’m still not sure about the school setting. I do like some of the exploration in the game. I like the fishing game. And all of the characters are interesting. And yet some of the school exploration can be pretty repetitive. It seems like on days off you do a lot of the same things over and over again. There is some variety but not a lot. Although I still find myself going back to the exploration and not wanting that section to be over with too soon. It might be repetitive but its also oddly addictive. I know thats weird. I can’t explain it.

Then there’s the game’s story, which is pretty interesting. I recently got to a big plot twist that changed the direction of the story and made things a bit more interesting. There are still repetitive elements to the game but I have no idea where the story is headed now! I’m also wondering how the story would head if I was the leader of a different house or I had picked different decisions. Hmm. I think this game is going to have a lot of replay value.

Of course, there are also the strategy battles and in my opinion, they are the best thing about the game so far. I do wish Fire Emblem Three Houses was more focused on its battles like previous games and less focused on the school and its story. The battles are fantastic. I have the game on easy setting, so I haven’t lost any battles yet. Maybe some people find that boring, but I love winning the battles and I don’t want to lose characters forever.

Oh and I love how you can move the characters via tiles or you can move them directly. The close ups for the one on one battles are back to and they are the best looking of the series.

Fire Emblem Three Houses graphics are fantastic! This is a great looking game. I’ve only been playing it on handheld mode and I’m very impressed by the game.

That all said, I did not included Fire Emblem Three Houses on my favorite of 2019 list because while I do like the game, I don’t find it to be the best Fire Emblem nor the worst either. Fire Emblem Three Houses is a good game but so far, I’m not as hyped about the game as other people. I’m not sure why people are raving about it so much. Sure its got the best graphics of the series and probably the best battle system, but the story is not as good as Fates. And I like the more old fashioned 2D map over the 3D exploration of Three Houses.

But I haven’t finished the game yet. I don’t know whats going to happen in the story. Maybe eventually I’ll understand the extreme hype for this game.

For right now, I am enjoying Fire Emblem Three Houses. I’m going to keep playing it. I’m glad I finally bought it. Time will only tell if it becomes one of my favorite Switch games or not.

What do you think of Fire Emblem Three Houses? No spoilers please!

Next week: I did include Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on my list of favorite games of 2019 and next week, I’ll talk about the game and why I think its so great.

More Thoughts From Me in an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. Now back to playing Fire Emblem Three Houses!