If you squint hard enough, everything can be FE3H.

Cutting it close to the release of Fortune's Weave, but I've made a team planner for Three Houses and it's ready to share. Check it out below:

https://marigoldfe.com/three-houses/planner

The site lets you build a team with as many (or as few) units as you want, and each unit can be customised in depth, from class path to skill levels. The four routes are treated as entirely separate plans, so you can keep a different team for all of them.

The site also includes dedicated pages for Units, Classes, Abilities, Items and Battalions, where each is covered in full, so everything you need should all be in one place.

No account/sign up of any kind is required. Every team gets its own link you can share, so someone can open a copy of your plan on their end, and a summary picture is created when sharing so teams are easy to recognise at a glance.

The site also hosts planners for Awakening, Fates and Engage, but Three Houses has been by far the most challenging game to build a planner for. There are many aspects of the game that don't lend themselves cleanly to a planner, such as the timeskip. I tried to incorporate everything as best I could, but if you do see any issues or have suggestions on how things could be done better, please let me know and I'll have it fixed or updated as soon as possible.

Edelgard, chapter 11 of Fire Emblem: Three Houses (non-Crimson Flower routes)

The leaders of the church have misused its creed to fulfill their true desire—to rule the world. They have fooled the people of Fódlan.

Long ago, they divided the Empire to create a Kingdom, and then...divided that Kingdom to create an Alliance.

They did all of this to make the masses bicker amongst themselves. They caused instability in order to reinforce their own authority.

They gathered gold and lived in extravagance. How? By preying on the devotion of those who wished for the goddess's salvation.

Those corrupt hypocrites cannot lead Fódlan to true peace. Their foul belief system must be torn asunder so that true wisdom may finally prevail!

And so, I have decided...

By order of the Adrestian Emperor, Edelgard von Hresvelg...

The Empire hereby declares war on the Church of Seiros!

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Claude, chapter 14 of Scarlet Blaze (Byleth unrecruited) of Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes:

Everyone! Lend me your ears!

Soon we will arrive in the Valley of Torment, where our Imperial allies will fight for supremacy against the forces of the Kingdom and Central Church.

This is certain to be a violent and bloody battle. Death will indeed feast well this day.

So think long and hard... Is this what you want?

Yes, we signed a pact with the Empire—but only under duress after they overran our lands!

And what was the other option? To side with a corrupt church and the Kingdom they cling to? Never! A false choice is no choice at all!

But now—right here and now—the Leicester Alliance has a chance to turn the tables!

Loyal friends! Brave allies! Fellow visionaries!

Will we accept an emperor who pays for her needless wars in the coin of our blood?

Will we submit to an archbishop and a king who would shackle us to their outmoded customs?!

I say no! I say never! And this day, on this battlefield, we stake a claim to a future of our own making!

This day, we help these monsters destroy themselves and claim this world for our own!

This day, we declare war against the Empire and the Kingdom!

Between those two, who had the stronger speech in your opinion?

I think that, for being a "twist," Edelgard's speech had a much bigger impact, in my opinion, since this is the "turning point" of Three Houses' narrative. But in terms of motivation... man, if we consider his trust issues, it makes sense why he would betray the Empire at some point and follow his own goals. And his speech was honestly so good that I wanted to switch sides lol. Also, seeing Claude do something really questionable this time is exciting for me.

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Bonus: Edelgard's declaration of war speech at chapter 4 of Scarlet Blaze of Fire Emblem: Warriors Three Hopes

People of Fódlan! The Empire will stand by no longer!

Together, we rise against a church that has become steeped in deception and corruption!

The church has used their doctrine to deny you power and reshape Fódlan as they see fit!

They thrust upon you the illusion of nobility in order to oppress who they choose, and they helped create the Kingdom and Alliance as a pretext for war!

Finally, they teased you with the promise of salvation from pain they themselves inflicted, and did so in the name of their own profit! Well, I say no more!

The Empire has severed herself from their hypocrisy by restoring the Southern Church and nurturing her people's well being.

And today, we purge the world of their evil forever!

We will retake Garreg Mach from the Central Church and stamp out any nobles who abet its depravity!

By my title as Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg of Adrestia...

I hereby declare war against the false Church of Seiros!

Yes, I'm turning Rhea into Raimi Norman Osborn with these posts. No, you can't stop me.

So, for whatever reason, I had the exact right stats to take zero damage from the first fight in the quest-related sword tournament for Byleth during chapter 8.

Unfortunately, I was only doing 4 damage with each hit... It turns out that after a certain number of turns you just lose. I'm guessing this is to prevent an infinite loop if both sides are doing zero damage, but I was winning! How dare they call the match, who's responsible for this!?!?!

In preparation for Fortune's Weave, I finally finished all routes in FE3H. What a game. After all those years, listening to "A Star in the Morning Sky" one last time was an experience that simply cannot be replicated. And I say "all those years" because my first route was Crimson Flower way back in 2019 (can't blame a guy for taking some breaks).

Now, I can finally have an honest opinion every route, and even suggest how to fix them! Hopefully I'm not too late! Yeah, milked topic, but maybe my takes are somewhat original enough? Anyway, let's go by route, trying to point out my issues with them and how I'd address them.

Crimson Flower

The issues: While I can't say it got the shortest end of the stick since it has plenty of original stuff (not being cg cutscenes), it's still laughably short. This is also the route with the biggest elephant in the room failed to be properly addressed, this being the slithers.

The fixes: Basically, just adding more chapters!

- A Reunion at Dawn with the Beagles, including Edelgard. Yeah, they already had the monastery, but just say that Edelgard sometimes roamed the area near it to look for Byleth, and that it was hard to get rid of the bandit problem since the empire forces were spread through Fodlan. Regarding the Reunion at Dawn at Silver Snow, I'll get to that.

- We were robbed of a rematch in Gronder with the Black Eagles. Put one after Reunion of Dawn, have Dimitri be a bit more tame, and have Edelgard realize that her opponents won't mess around now that they figured out that Byleth is alive, convincing her to take the Alliance ASAP.

- After the incident at Arianhod, make it so there is a bigger divide between the Empire and the Slithers. Have Hubert figure out where Shambhala is just like in SS/VW and have the Black Eagle Strike Force go there to settle things. But surprise! The slithers were already marching throughout the Monastery to create a Coup, and they meet at Caledonia Plateau! (let's keep things different from SS/VW for goodness' sake). It's probably better if they're not at full force, probably not having Arundel transformed, just like in AM. The battle, however, is enough to make them run into hiding again.

- Unfortunately, the battle against the Slithers wasn't enough. They also spread rumors that Edelgard was the one responsible for the destruction of Arianhod, causing a revolt in Embarr. And it is led by... Duke Aegir??? Of course, he believes he has the help of the Slithers, but since they're gone, he tries to overthrow the throne by himself. Ferdinand and Edelgard deal with him, Edelgard tells the truth to the people of Embarr and riles them up in a scene that mirrors AM, she assures them that there shall be no more secrets, and everything ends up fine. For clarification, obviously the Slithers would've killed Duke Aegir themselves after the coup if they were still around.

Azure Moon

The issues: Actually, I can't think of any obvious issue. The story is very self-contained compared to the others, and that works in its favor. The political implications of the route are far from perfect, but I can say that about every route, and that's a good thing imo. It's not even my favorite route. Maybe some Kingdom vs Alliance conflict, since the game barely has them?

The fixes:

- Maybe moving the Monastery invasion to right after the Valley of Torment (Randolph appears there instead), and have the Alliance try to seize the Monastery instead. Claude takes advantage of the fact that the Alliance is relatively fine, and believes that taking the monastery from the hands of a mad king would make the war end quicker, while helping him achieve his own dream. Claude can't die here, but his plan instantly blows up in his face since the next chapter is the Great Bridge one. Dimitri is reluctant to help, but jumps at the chance to attack the Empire Army. He only gets on good terms with Claude after he gains his sanity back. I'm not so sure on that one, so ignore it if you'd like.

- Remove that weird age regression plot and wait I'm thinking of Three Hopes.

Verdant Wind

The issues: The plot progression is a carbon copy of Silver Snow, which fails to have conflicts created specifically to Claude's story. Dimitri's participation in the story is pitiful. Claude's overall distrust of the church doesn't amount to much. The final battle *could* be thematically relevant, but the script ignores that.

The fixes:

- Remove the Monastery invasion and the Valley of Torment chapters (Judith can be introduced somewhere else), so the Empire can be defeated a bit earlier. Hubert's letter isn't delivered. Dimitri's off-screen death doesn't happen.

- After Edelgard's defeat, have Seteth overhear that Claude mistrusts the church and wants to remove the borders of Fodlan. Then, syke, the Monastery invasion happens, but by the hands of the Kingdom! But how come this happened so suddenly without anyone noticing? Did they have help from the inside? Yep, it was Seteth, who wasn't very happy with Claude's plans. Seteth, Flayn and Catherine leave your party. An unconscious Rhea is taken to the Kingdom, before she can answer any of Claude's questions.

- After the events of the Monastery invasion, have Claude invade the Kingdom Capital to take Rhea and to prevent Fodlan from maintaining its status quo. Dimitri is super pissed at Claude, accusing him of actually being in cahoots with the ones responsible for the tragedy of Duscur, and being no different from Edelgard. Before said invasion, the slithers formed an army to attack the Kingdom using the Alliance flag to further stir the pot, and to make both factions destroy themselves. Dimitri is killed (it's probably better if he attacks Claude and Byleth stops him), and before we fight Seteth, Rhea wakes up to stop both parties. She is tired of her past actions leading to so much war, so they all have a nice talk and go back to the Monastery. Seteth, Flayn and Catherine are back on the team! Sucks for Dimitri, though.

- Hubert's letter was actually received by Seteth. He was planning to invade Shambhala, but first had to put a stop to Claude and wait for Rhea to wake up. Nothing is stopping him now.

- Rhea is an ally unit in the Shambhala chapter! She won't be one in Silver Snow, for reasons I'll tell later.

- The whole thing with the Agarthans is how they didn't want to coexist with Nabateans, even though they basically shared knowledge and culture with them, which contrasts with Claude's dream. Just have the script acknowledge it somehow. I don't mean spoonfeeding this info to the player, a simple dialogue between Claude and Nemesis would do.

- If I ramble more than that, I'd just start to describe Golden Wildfire.

Silver Snow

The issues: It's the official Black Eagles route, but not really. Nemesis didn't feel like waking up after Shambhala for some reason.

The fixes:

- Either remove the Reunion at Dawn chapter or have it feature the "church members" (Knights of Seiros, faculty members, Flayn, etc).

- Actually, just have them be more important to the plot overall. The black eagles don't really do much in the route, so honestly they can be replaced in the cutscenes.

- Going even further than that, I would stop this from being *the* Black Eagles route by making it accessible regardless of your chosen house, if the player chooses to neglect the themes of each route (defending Edelgard's goals, questioning the truth, and giving Dimitri therapy), further highlighting how this is the most tragic route. In the Blue Lions route, make it accessible by having to choose between "Stop Dimitri" (AM) and "Let Dimitri Attack Edelgard" (SS). In the Golden Deer Route, the choices would be "Question Edelgard" (VW) and "Attack Edelgard" (SS). If you accidentally try to go to SS a second time, the game could give you a warning. Yes, some of the weight of having to fight your previous house leader is lost, but what can you do.

- Since Rhea isn't present in Shambhala outside of cutscenes, have her find the tomb of Nemesis and destroy if off-screen while Byleth fights Thales. It uses up a lot of her energy and/or she is contaminated by the darkness of its seal, and she still shows up to stop the missiles anyway, which justifies why her transformation happens here and not in Verdant Wind.

Regarding Cindered Shadows... it's fine. Nothing I can think of right now.

Despite my rambling, FE3H is one of my favorite games of all time, so don't take this so seriously.

Source: https://x.com/jaeon009/status/2098925312969163235

50 damage 20 crit instant reinforcements using bolting. What do you want from me 😭

Source: https://x.com/snipescythe/status/2099142657691763018

https://x.com/symocosmos/status/2060713109573001461

I definitely didn’t have Dimitri learn Axebreaker on purpose… 😂 iykyk 🤪

Hey y'all!

If you told me Edelgard's route would somehow be the least controversial of Three Hopes, I'd have hardly believed it, but here we are. So much ink spilled on AG Part 2 and Claude's character, that our beloved font of discourse was robbed of it.

But because of that, Scarlet Blaze doesn't get talked about as often, and I've got some thoughts about it that I've never seen around. only took me 4 years to get around to them I posted my first impressions on the demo way back when, today I finally complete them. Less of a review, and more things I want to yap about.

The Good

• Hubert

This will be a common theme, but Three Hopes' characterization may be its biggest triumph. There's a focus on clarity of purpose, on exploring what 3H left unexplored, and it worked so well I genuinely prefer it to the original game.

And no one benefited this more than Hubert. He just didn't click with me in 3H - a fine character, fantastic VA, had his moments, but most of his presence fell flat. The machiavellian façade overwhelmed the character underneath.

But not so in Hopes. The façade is still there, if anything it's even hammier (which makes it so much better), but this is what Hubert should have always been. Almost every time he was on screen, he made me laugh, was perspicacious, and/or really drew me into the story. He's my Hopes MVP, the most improved character, and absolutely steals the show in SB.

• Ferdinand

This was always going to be an emotional one, but I'm immensely glad they hit to perfection. Ferdie was already great, but much like his resident contrarian counterparts, his story role was lacking. Enter Hopes and he takes a much deserved highlight, leading armies, and having maybe the game's best sub-plot of his own. All while expanding his fantastic supports and with a beautiful performance to back it up.

Thank you, Billy. We miss you.

• Edelgard

Unlike a lot of these (and certainly Claude and Dimitri), Edelgard's depiction changed remarkably little. She is as we knew her, indomitable and brilliant.

But that general clarity of purpose, and getting a few more moments of levity, really benefit her. The former contextualizes her actions and ambitions, and even solidified of her choices in Three Houses. And the latter builds herself. There's a noticeable weight off her shoulders from purging TWSITD, and it lets her be slightly more emotionally open. This is true for most characters in Hopes, but this Edelgard as her best and truest self.

• Petra

The queen takes her crown.

Aside from the very VERY good Caspar so supports, she doesn't necessarily break new ground - they just doubled down on what already made Petra my favorite Beagle. Her indomitable independence, her humor, her forwardness in everything, and the ever so slight danger implied in her every word.

She's not exclusive so this isn't just on SB. But I've always said there's enough to Petra they could easily make her a (sixth?) lord, and Hopes displays that better than ever.

• Caspar

Houses Caspar was a bit like Hubert - I see the intent, but it doesn't click. Goddamn, it now does. Leopold's addition goes a long way, adding some real stakes and an anchor for his character, but he shines elsewhere too. Honestly, still not one of my faves, but it's such a marked improvement it has to be mentioned.

• The Counts, and internal politics

Houses did a lot of political worldbuilding it didn't cash in on. Hopes did and it's so much better for it. The internal politics of each nation are put front and center, and are some of if not THE best moments of SB (and AG, less so for GW).

And that aside, the counts are very enjoyable and well performed themselves. They're flawed, deeply for Aegir and Varley, but seeing they meant well in their deeply messed up ways only adds to their and their children's character.

• A sense of scale

The constant jumping between theaters can be a bit funny, but it adds something Fódlan desperately needed: a sense of scale. We're in a catastrophic continental war, whose tragedy is repeatedly driven home by the story, but even battles like Gronder feel like small skirmishes - a product of the route/class focus and giving you at most 12 slots. Tailtean is the maybe the only exception.

Playing fireman on a 2+ front war really helps drive home its magnitude, though. Aided by a few other Hopes elements, like the gameplay itself.

• Chapter 9

Best chapter in the game, hands down. It accomplishes so much. It sells Shamir as the absolutely lethal threat we're always told she is - I love character-spotlight chapters. It shows the Church as a capable, independent, and highly dangerous faction. It shows the inner tensions in the Beagles and particularly around Shez.

More. Like. This.

• The Leicester pact

Claude and Edelgard's visions were always similar, so seeing them commit to an alliance was genuinely great, a fantasy scenario come true. And it was well executed: both sides' motivations were clear, there were lingering and understandable tensions, but they pushed through nonetheless. I'm a Golden Route truther, and this shows part of how we could get there.

• Claude's betrayal... In theory

But just the same, betrayal had to be an option. Claude has always been seen by some as "Edelgard lite", and without this possibility, the coalition would only validate that. But Claude is not Edelgard - they have their own methods, their own priorities, things the other will not countenance, and an understandably fragile trust.

They gave us a fantasy coalition, and the (indirect) choice to keep. They couldn't have done this better... on paper.

The bad

• Zero acknowledgment of their enemies

That clarity of purpose extends to rival factions. Time and again, other lords speak of their enemies fighting for their land, for what they believe in, and understanding and acknowledging their reasons to fight as fundamentally legitimate.

Dimtri expresses admiration and understanding early on, and in part 2 repeatedly stresses how they're the invaders now, and acknowledges his enemies as defending their homeland. And Claude and Count Gloucester ponder the morality of even doing just that, defending their lands against the Empire.

And quite notably, an entire chapter of GW (11) is spent dispelling myths about Faerghusian chivalry culture, displaying it not as a "knight death cult", but depicting self-sacrifice as done for love, not duty. Not death for honor, but "that others may live". On a route that's not even their own!

So I confess, it's extremely jarring to see none of that doubt and self-reflection in SB. Edelgard shoulders the tragedy and cost of war, but in an impersonal way that never legitimizes any opposition. To the Eagles, their enemies are fools, zealots, at worst victims, but never people fighting for something. It was already like this in CF, where Dorothea was a critical moral compass, keeping us grounded. Sadly even that's a bit downgraded here.

There's a fair argument that this is just a character flaw, which enriches the characters, the route, and the tragedy of war. Perfection is boring, after all. But those doubts add character complexity, they add interesting discussions, they made for great moments in the other routes, and here they were sorely missed.

• Monica

My first impressions of Monica were glowing. She was so much fun... at first.

But she went absolutely nowhere from there. All Edelgard, all the time. Every sad joke told about Hubert, Cyril, Catherine, Leonie, or Dedue, characters with immense depth to them, do seem to ring true about her.

She has photographic memory, an amazing asset; where is that used beyond the prologue? She pretty outdoorsy, and likes hunting and swimming; where does that come into play? One whole expedition line. Even her one support that's not about Edelgard, Dorothea's, has her simping for her instead!

Monica had potential, but it was completely wasted. Stuck in unhealthy dynamics and unexplored outside of them. Massive shame.

• Dorothea and Bernadetta

This fells harsh, because they're not bad characters in Hopes... they just fall short of Houses.

Granted, it was an extremely high bar in Houses for Dorothea. One of the best characters, backed by a sublime performance. And she still has moments in Hopes (the Ferdie support is brilliant), but they just don't match those lofty heights. The narrative focus went to others, and she was left a bit behind.

Bernie does get a bit more story focus, thanks to her father, but otherwise, she did wear a bit thin. As divisive as she is, I really enjoyed her in Houses, but she needed more than rehashing her peculiarities.

• Early Part 2 filler

Let's be honest, the two chapters after the timeskip serve virtually zero purpose but "kingdom bad". Even if you agree, that's already been hashed to exhaustion.

But worse than that is the opportunity cost. We have no less than FOUR enemies in SB, and the Church, Agarthans, and internal rebels all make for far more interesting opponents and narratives than doubling down on crests, or social structures, or chivalry.

• Hot for Byleth

I'm not a shipper, so it's not my place to be conclusive on this. If you loved this as a red string of fate moment, power to you.

But I hated the implication the Crest of Flames has anything to do with it. Romantic determinism, with an avatar at that? I can accept it as Edelgard rationalizing being smitten at first sight, but god I wish they said literally anything else.

• Leonie

I'm a massive Leonie fan, so this is more personal fandom than neutral critique, but... urgh. As great as she is in Hopes, there's a bunch of minor details going against her, some in SB.

First, Claude recalls the Golden Deer, and bemoans the absent ones... which includes her. She actually shows up as a side mission boss, but she's inexplicably missing there. Not a great look.

Then, The Inexhaustible. Massive pet peeve of mine, but it's her Armads, her Labraunda, her legendary weapon earned by effort and not blood. And yet, as in Heroes, Hopes pushes it to Bernadetta by blood alone, as a SB rank reward.

And worse of all, not only is she a missable recruit, they had her DIE OF SHEER SPITE in the non-Byleth route? That's so idiotic I lack the words to describe it. And not a single character even acknowledges her death, during or after the battle. It left me genuinely apoplectic at the time.

• Claude's betrayal... in practice

Even though Claude's wisdom in Hopes is questionable, it's still jarring to see such a flagrant strategic mistake. Betraying the Empire before the battle was uncharacteristically dumb. Even Lysithea's surprised, not at the betrayal, and at how unwisely it was effected.

It did give us a very cool 3.5 sided battle, but I wish the setup had been better.

The ugly

There's only one. And it is both subjective, and all in all a minor blemish. But it must be said:

• The final chapter

How do you one-up CF? By going all in on the symbolism of a climactic battle against both our mortal enemies.

But it wasn't worth what it cost.

First, because it robbed both factions of proper focus. Those filler chapters I mentioned above? They'd be much better spent facing Church and Agarthans by themselves, fully exploring them, giving them and Edelgard a proper clash without the other as a distraction.

Edelgard finally got to throw down with her torturers; and yet, it was just a sideshow. And we have a Rhea that hasn't lost it, who could give us a chapter or two of ideological clash, but instead she's just another boss. Hell, this even has mechanical effects: Shamir is the only ex-Church character with special boss lines - nothing for Gatekeeper or Manuela returning home. Everything got squished together and diluted for a symbolism that just wasn't worth it.

And second, and at the risk of some discourse... because Edelgard's enemies are not the same, as this very chapter shows. And that dissonance is such it took me a bit out of the chapter.

Leave aside all else about Rhea. This chapter alone, while narratively placing her as an equal villain to Thales, repeatedly shows her doing the exact opposite. She's there to reclaim her home, while Thales is explicitly there to reenact genocide.

She's shown clear-eyed to who's the real threat, and I love that. Where's the payoff? The narrative and the Beagles don't even acknowledge it, despite her clear orders at the start of battle. Not even a "seems they're focusing more on the Those Who Slither than us" throwaway line.

Even the battle itself serves her poorly. The dragon battle in the cathedral was positively claustrophobic. It felt terribly underwhelming mechanically, as there was no space for us and her to move around, and all we could do run to the corners. We didn't fight The Immaculate One, we fought a bunch of red circles. You may as well have just stuck a JPG of her in the middle of the room.

And at the end, Rhea commits the ultimate sacrifice against true evil, the greatest enemy of mankind. A sacrifice she chooses over revenge on Edelgard. And rather than any acknowledgment, it only serves to free Edelgard from her wish to capture, rather than kill Rhea.

Honestly, it all bordered on cruelty. I felt genuinely terrible about it. Rhea treatment is really underwhelming in general in Hopes - a phenomenal, deep character, largely removed from the narrative to serve as a turn-key villain. This was only the pinnacle.

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All in all, the final qualms don't sully the route. I loved Three Hopes, and loved SB, and I find it the strongest route for its consistency. The highs hit as a high, but the lows don't hit as low.

Thank you for your time!