You ever catch yourself looking at a gaming series from the outside? There are a number of series that I have windows perspective with, but one I've wanted to be viewing on the inside for years is the Fire Emblem series.
Like a number of people, the Fire Emblem series was brought to my attention through the Super Smash Bros. series, Melee in particular. Even for such a wide cast that Melee had, Marth and Roy really stood out from the bunch. Marth ended up becoming one of my favorite characters among the Fire Emblem reps. Lucina may be better in Ultimate, but I still prefer to use Marth, probably because I've played as him for so long and this is coming from someone that still knows next to nothing about either of them.
The Smash Bros. games did spark my interest in the Fire Emblem series. But I've yet to put a serious amount of hours into any of the games despite owning several of them. I have all three of the 3DS Fire Emblem titles as well as Sacred Stones on the GBA. I pour a measly few hours into Ehcoes and I enjoyed it the time I spent with Alm and company but this was 2017, which was an insanely huge year for games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sonic Mania, Super Mario Odyssey and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy occupied a lot of my time so Echoes fell by the wayside. I never even got around to played Fates or Awakening. Though time spent with other games did keep me from playing those titles, the vocal members of the Fire Emblem fanbase that bashed Fates and Awakening was very much fresh in my mind, but that really is an editorial for another day.
Enter Fire Emblem: Three Houses. When I'd heard about this game, I was intrigued. The idea of choosing from one of three houses to help mold the minds of students was certainly a fascinating prospect. Three Houses would also mark the first time the FE series returned to consoles and on the Switch, no less, the gaming platform that doubles as a handheld and has been eating up so much of my game time. I didn't pick up Three Houses when it released in July and other titles such as Astral Chain (haven't finished it, BTW) and Collection of Mana would get my playtime. Even so, I didn't watch any videos or LPs for Three Houses because I wanted to avoid spoilers. Byleth's reveal as the final character of the first Fighter Pass was ultimately (heh) what gave me the push to finally buy Three Houses. Now that I'm more than 20 hours into the game, I realized something: I made a huge mistake. I should have bought and played Three Houses so much sooner.
Three Houses is one of those games that just clicked with me. The grid, turn based combat is very engaging and I often find myself thinking over just where I should position my units. Even though I'm sweating bullets sometimes, the battles are certainly one of the many things I love about Three Houses.
The cast of characters in this game is phenomenal. I ended up choosing Golden Deer for my first play through of the game and while I really do think the world of this house, the other house has equally endearing members. During free time days, I wonder the monastery to chat it up with members of other houses in hopes of getting them to join mine. And even if I can't recruit them to my house, I still love interacting with them. Fun and adrenaline pumping as the battles are, down time in Three Houses is something I always look forward to.
Story is something that also heavily has my attention in Three Houses. At 26 hours in, I realize I'm still pretty early in the game but Rhea already strikes me as someone that strike someone down in a heartbeat if they defied her. I also want to see where the students end up. I already know there is a time jump and Dimitri can undergo quite the radical shift, but I want to see for myself just how he ended up like that.
And there you have it. After nearly two decades of looking at the Fire Emblem games from the outside, I'm finally looking at one from the inside. It feels so freaking good. Three Houses is the kinda game I want to consume on entire days off but I alas, I can't I had to set some time aside just so I could get this written. I want to dive even deeper into Three Houses, finish up my Golden Deer run and then play choosing a different house. I also want to check out other games in the Fire Emblem series. Play through the 3DS games I own and anything else I can get my hands on. Will I like other games as much as I'm enjoying Three Houses? Maybe, maybe not, but I want to take on those journeys to find out. The inside view is a lot better than the window view.
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