Bulbagarden

Hmm, there isn't really too much I dislike so far, at least in terms of maps and conditions. I'd say character wise, for Golden Deer, Lysithea is my least favorite in that house mainly for her personality. Don't have any least favorite for Blue Lions students though. I also dislike that some paralogue battles are pretty easy to miss, especially if it's with students not from your chosen house, or they're ones you don't want to recruit, which in turn can make it to where you miss the deadline for certain supports; it's easier now on my second playthrough after I figured it out, but still was kinda frustrating for the first time lol. And, while I don't really dislike it, but after the timeskip there really isn't much incentive to spend your free time roaming the monastery; unless you're curious about what the characters have to say for the current month's mission or if you're still trying to raise certain supports, but otherwise eating, cooking, fishing, etc. becomes kind of pointless outside of the few quests you'll still get.

Of course, some things might change after I complete all four routes. For all I know there could be maps and conditions later in the Blue Lions route, or the Black Eagles route's for either/both Edelgard's and the Church's paths I might dislike.

I don't like that we only have 5 save states. I've just cleared chapter 11/starting chapter 12 (in Black Eagle house btw) and now twice I've had to save two separate files already so I could go back later on and make other choices rather than needing to play through the house again. That's really my biggest gripe.

Beyond that the support system does bug me. In past games I feel like I reached S rank simple enough, but in this one well. I'd randomly been forming bonds with Petra, Bernadetta (who I planned on making my S rank) and Dorothea, because to me I feel like they always want you to romance the lead character so I always pick someone else I like instead. Anyway with the latter two I was (and am) stuck on B with it just saying "it will take some time before you can deepen this bond" At this point now at some point down the road I guess I'll need to replay this houses story from the start to get my S rank from here.

Also spoilers of sorts for any onlookers but this clip here is entirely what I was thinking of during that part a few chapters sooner when, you know that thing happened like this

I think for FE (and Pokémon as well) there should be like, 99 save files like some other RPG's have (some FF installments for example). While having 5 save files is nice and all but 3 Houses really does push you to play all four routes, so having one more save file after the other four are complete kinda feels weird to me. I know it's for those that want to complete all support logs and whatnot, but I don't like the thought of deleting that file just to try for another support each time, imo. It's kind of difficult to fully explain it, but at least with 99 files it gives me a chance to maybe try other unconventional builds each file too.

Yeah the support system in this game is kinda whack. Some supports are either deadlined by a paralogue or for certain in-game events. Like from what I've read on Serenes Forest forums, Leonie's support chain with Byleth is timed or something, so it's very possible to only get C support and never progress on to B+; I might play as Male Byleth again to see for myself, but that still kind of puts me off from it too. I know for the "It will take some time before you can deepen this bond." dialogue is for timeskip reasons, at least for the characters I paired others with (without deadlines) and for ones you want to romance (except Leonie's if you don't do it right apparently, screw us right? /s). This run I'm romancing Dimitri but, since he's currently deranged, he can't deepen his bonds still; I'm hoping to finally progress real soon though, I'm at ch.17 so if it's some stupid obscure reason to actually progress that support, then I'm going Felix instead (since I got up to A with him).

Speaking of that video, I just love that Byleth is now part of the Super Saiyan meme after their's and Sothis' fusion lol.

Definitely agreed. If the game didn't call for various choices and what not that say they change the direction of the story then a few files only would be fine. But with a far more amount, such as 99, you could keep save states from various points where you need to make said decisions easily. I agree with you too, once I finish going the alternate options in my playthrough for Black Eagles I'm going to need to delete them except for the one main file I decide to keep so I have room for the other routes. It really sucks being so limited to saves. I can maybe understand Pokemon not doing it but honestly there's no reason for Fire Emblem to not allow basically infinite save files, especially if you wanna try to get max support with everyone once.

I believe that because while I was in my support files I saw under Rhea it said I missed my chance to advance our support a while ago. Didn't even think about the possibility of her being support but regardless somehow it just ended up being missed. But it's still a crazy system. I'm like "should I even bother cooking meals with them/having tea, or giving them gifts or am I wasting my time?" It's really the only thing frustrating me. Battles with demonic beasts were annoying by now they aren't so bad when using the player character. Also I could see you going for Felix. He does seem like your type. I liked him as an ally too anyways. Cause of sword use and whatnot it was super easy getting him to switch houses and come to mine.

Yeah I paused for a second when Petra told me that. At first I was like "nah" but then I said "dammit, while green hair made sense it should be golden" and after seeing that I'm disappointed I went down the route of using sword combat instead of magic. Mostly since seeing one of Dorothea's attacks looking just like a Kamehameha wave. It all woulda worked so perfectly.

Yeah that's why I don't really bother with trying to complete all support logs in FE anymore. At least from Awakening on, I almost got all support logs completed in Awakening but stopped because deleting files each time was really stupid to me; if I want to see everyone's supports I'll just read the FE wiki and Serenes Forest threads for it.

Rhea has a timed one too? Well that makes two of the Church allies then, cause Seteth has a timed support too, I didn't realize before until I got to part 2 on my Blue Lions run where, just like the Golden Deer run, I missed just even getting to C support. If I missed advancing a support for a character I don't bother with tea parties/cooking/eating with them, it says the rank goes up, but it obviously goes nowhere anyway; just a waste of time for me to even bother when other characters at least deserve it more. Oh and speaking of the beasts, heads up for any titan ones; you'll know when you see them, they pretty much are golem like beings and have crazy high defense. It's still easier with Byleth and one of the lords, but it'll take longer to defeat them though. After a while though, fighting two or more beasts on the map isn't too bad/hard anymore. Felix is a crazy dodge-bot unit, also very fast (at least mine is so far). Made him into a Mortal Savant cause that sword and magic combo eats enemies for breakfast lol. Definitely gonna recruit him for both paths in the Black Eagles route! But yeah he and Linhardt seem to be the easiest of the students to recruit from what I've seen, and I've recruited Linhardt twice cause magic is even easier to raise up this time around.

Doesn't help when we do see their hair color change it has a golden-like color to it a bit before going light green. And speaking of magic attacks, when you mentioned Dorothea's attacks looking like a DB move, Felix's movements when using magic looks like something out of Naruto lmao. Can't wait to see Dorothea's attacks though, gonna be great.

I really don't blame you. I'll limit myself to two supports per run I think now, and should I be able to advance far enough with them then when the time comes to pick what side I'm on again I'll pick a different S route for the different side. Just give me stinking unlimited saves. It's not like we need to abuse them to keep people alive since Casual mode is a thing haha.

Yeah I didn't even think about checking her since I figured she probably couldn't become an S, but sure enough there I was in my support logs showing her stuck on C. I'd feel weird going for Seteth myself anyway given his family member haha. Yeah I agree there. Once I saw I missed my chance with Rhea I just gave her the lost items that go to her and moved on. Yeah usually they aren't too bad of enemies (haven't hit those golem ones yet cause I'm playing this game slowly cause work and stuff) a combat art to break the defense and a quick strike usually beat them quick enough now, but part of it too is I always do my first playthrough for Fire Emblem on casual mode so I can enjoy the story without worry of losing anyone so I don't mind a sacrifice being made in these battles rip. Yeah I was really glad that after doing the side mission for Felix I went to recruit him because he instantly became in my top 5 for offense. He easily takes out a bunch of the enemies on his own with his double strike. I'll pick him up again in my other house run. Yeah Linhardt seems like a type who would probably be easy to convince over. Didn't have to try myself yet of course. Personally I feel like this game coaxed me into going for Black Eagles first and deciding which way to go in chapter 11 just from the beginning of the game's story when you first meet everyone alone.

Yeah hahaha that's for sure. It always makes me laugh when you see popular anime find subtitle references in video games. A nice little nod to "hey this a pretty cool thing even if everyone doesn't like your series." Yeah I think you'll like her, she was a pretty good help for me in some battles.

And okay yeah I just hit that time skip and immediately that first week both Dorothea and Berbadetta's A events triggered and both already have the S lite up saying they trigger later on so, good to know I'd maxed them out far in advance. Good to know for future playthroughs.

Yup for Three Houses I just let supports roll in without any effort, especially since eventually on most maps all my units congregate together anyway and it raises so many supports. So aside from a specific character I want to romance, and/or two characters I want to have a paired ending together, I don't bother much with the others. At least with unlimited saves there'll be more incentive to complete support logs without deleting previous saves.

It's funny cause I wasn't even trying for Seteth, I just noticed the "you missed your chance to progress" notice and was like "Uh, ok? Cause we need more time based supports?". I too did my first run on Normal but with Classic instead, Blue Lions run is Hard/Classic, but I didn't notice any specific difficulty spike much; only difference really is for limited grinding but that's understandable for the mode. Felix is probably pretty OP along with the lords, Hilda is up there in attack/defense as well and Gilbert too, I have a feeling when I start my BE run Hubert might be good as well (he's amazing in Heroes for sure though). Ah and speaking of side missions, just a heads up (which I'll put in spoiler for any on lookers that don't want to be spoiled) but Dedue on the Blue Lions run will stay dead after the timeskip if you don't do his paralogue pre-timeskip, so he's easily miss-able in the timeskip. The fact it was kind of obscure frustrated me, but if I ever do another BL run I'll have to remember that. It just sucks cause I missed out on an amazing tank unit rip.

I've always loved looking for other anime/game references in media, it's always nice to see a nod towards inspiration. Especially in the case of the DB franchise, in fact I'd be surprised if any modern anime/game didn't take reference from it (along with JJBA too) since it's a long running series that inspired quite a few tropes of it's own.

Oh I forgot Dorothea and Bernadetta have a support together. I'll go for those two then on my BE run, I think Edelgard also has a support with one or both too but I'm not sure. I also found out that when playing as Female Byleth Sylvain can automatically be recruited to the other two houses without doing any support/stat grinding, I'll recruit him on my next run since that's literally a free unit right there (I mean it makes sense with his flirty personality lol).

Yeah seriously. I mean since we have the new ways to raise support levels I figured I'd use them and move the support up cause didn't figure it'd be so easy to move up. But that's what first playthroughs are for I suppose. But yes unlimited saves would be best because between Berbadetta, and Dorothea that's two from BE house alone, plus now I'll probably want to do another play of it for Edelgard because the game really seems to push super hard for that ship, plus I do like her character anyway in this story. I especially like all the subtitle foreshadowing she did early on including with how she talked about the Flame Emperor and if you trusted then especially with her saying along the lines of "maybe one day they'll unmask in front of you and you can make your decision seeing their face" or something like that

It was the same for me and Rhea. I was in my own support screen looking at how close I was for others and saw it say I missed out on her. I might go for her when I take her side which is yet another playthrough without the save to back it up lol. Yeah my next run is going to be on classic/hard for BE again and the other two classes. Hubert is a really good unit indeed. He generally took out a bunch of units from the distance with ease. And his support, specifically the B level. Thanks for the heads up, I'll need to revisit our chat when I play through there so I remember.

Yeah like you said I think at this point everything takes a tiny bit from it which I do like, especially when it even parodies itself too.

Haha yeah that doesn't shock me about Sylvain at all. I'm sure I can easily lure Petra into other classes too since she seems pretty sword focused and it's hard to not be a sword user in this series to some extent.

I find it interesting that, no matter what route you pick, the game kind of pushes the lord of your current house with Byleth regardless of what gender you play as. Seriously, I played as Male Byleth in Golden Deer and the game pushes Claude towards Byleth, especially with the way he acts around him and their supports too. I noticed that with Dimitri while playing as Female Byleth too, so I'm not surprised the game will push Edelgard towards Byleth. I was kinda iffy on her at first, but she's grown on me so I'm excited to soon play through Edelgard's route. (and I have a feeling more pieces will fit together after playing GD and BL)

I'm not sure if I'll bother with Rhea's support in the Church route, I have a feeling that I'll still miss it anyway lol. That's great that Hubert is a good unit in BE, cause he was definitely gonna be my main mage to use. And no problem, when I found that out last night after thinking why he didn't return with the others it lowkey made me pissed lol, I mean yeah there's Gilbert but still.

Yeah Byleth leaning more towards swords makes sense. His starting weapon and relic weapon being swords show that, and like you said just makes it that much easier to raise stats for it. (unless RNG screws you over, I've had that happen before in previous games)

It's all those dang lines after the time skip like when you reunite the first time and she's asking where you've been and says about how heartbroken she was, and then when one of the other characters says how it became clear during your disappearance that you were her anchor and stuff. Plus her background story lured me in. I mean in her early support logs towards you alone she ended up mentioning about a bunch of siblings and I was like "well damn, as one of 7 myself this seems preplanned." I plan to only play as the Male version myself as I generally just stick to my own gender in games (save for a few cases like Pokemon Crystal cause even 10 year old me thought it was cool to see a female player character finally be able to be used). It's really tough though cause again this is where unlimited saves would help as BE house is the one house where I actually like all the girls from it, so that's 4 separate people just from the one house I want to get to S at some point, and then as far as any other houses go I really only like Mercedes any so. Guess I'll see maybe about making anyone try to jump ship for the S unit elsewhere. Of course there's also that one other person you can even get to S with I saw looking something up. I think they're worth a try too. Seems they make off better than Kami did. I really need to get around to completing a single story here...But that's like what now I've said? 9 different people? Stinking lack of save spots!

Yeah, come to think of it if I do miss the support with her I could always go for Flayn in the church route. Might be awkward with certain family there though lol. But I still wanna try for Rhea. I mean her transformation just screams "Seto Kaiba dream girl" so that's motivation enough lol. Yeah Huburt saved my bacon with some distance attacks at times. It got to the point in some missions where I usually used him to lead the other 7 while I went off to a different part of the map with just one support unit. The timeskip irked me at first but I do look forward now to seeing how it goes in the other houses.

Yeah I didn't do my first play here right with him. I stayed so focused on sword that I'd always do a training for it when I had free roaming points to spend and focused on nothing else. It made it too strong with no other backup. I mean heck in chapter 12 alone I was the only one left and on my way to Rhea I was attacked by about 8 people in a row, dodged each one and one shot them, then beat Rhea with a single crit blow lol. In my other runs I gotta space out my build for him.

Ah yeah, when you mentioned that she regards Byleth as her anchor it reminds me of Dimitri and how Byleth is his anchor in the Blue Lions route (though he doesn't hint at it until his angst is over towards the end of the route); aside from Claude those two lords have obvious issues that get mellowed if you chose their house. It's also obvious if you don't choose their house how far down they'll go into madness without Byleth to guide them, so to speak (kinda cheesy but it's the best description). I forgot about Edelgard having multiple siblings, didn't they all die due to the experiments that Lysithea also went through? I just started the Black Eagles route and will go with Edelgard first before the Church, so it'll be interesting to raise her support. But yeah after choosing the BE this time, I want to S either Hubert or Ferdinand but thanks to only 5 saves, I'd have to delete a file to see them. Thanks Nintendo/IS and Koei Tecmo. /s I hope FE17 will have unlimited saves (inb4 they don't).

Flayn's nice, I might play male Byleth in the Church route and maybe S support her. She's just so cute that I'm gonna miss her once she leaves BE (due to siding with Edelgard), but it will be awkward with Seteth around yeah especially since (once again spoilers for on-lookers) she's actually his daughter. That or I might stick with female Byleth and go Seteth, though that'll be just as awkward I'm sure lol. Hubert learns spells pretty fast! Still in the early story for BE, but he is definitely good for taking a good chunk of the enemies HP, which let's me use Bernadetta, Linhardt, and Dorothea for chipping the last of it away so they can gain EXP. He's gonna be in my endgame team for sure. Speaking of timeskip for the other houses, BL route's final boss was actually hard, had to restart a few times! (which is actually the first time since FE4&5!) Claude's timeskip story isn't too bad though, on that route you get more info about Byleth's backstory and Those Who Slither in the Dark are the true enemies, with Nemesis being the final boss.

This run Byleth is going mercenary/myrmidon, mainly so Felix gets recruited ASAP. Though I might do a wyvern rider Byleth for the Church route, not sure just yet. But Byleth staying with sword classes is pretty OP, still had high dodge rate in the early chapters and speed goes up pretty fast anyway which makes it great if you want them as a myrmidon (or thief).

Man I really do hate how my phone tries to autocorrect names. I keep missing it change them. Especially annoying with Fire Emblem talk since most of these names aren't something a phone would know.

Yeah you're right about that. The game pushes super hard for the ship with the main character and I feel like you especially see that with Edelgard in chapter 11 and 12. I'll see with myself with Dimitri when I get to him. Yeah Edelgard explains that to you in her C and C+ support. Not sure if I remember that about Lysithea, but I haven't spoken to her yet. I say that because in the chapter where you face off with Claude the game gives you the choice to save her life and let her join you instead of just killing her like everyone else you face at that time. At this point Petra also ended up becoming an S for me (or well S is there but still can't pick till after the war yet) so that's already 3 characters in one file, and Edelgard will probably get there too before the end. At this point I may just make a save right before the end so I can play out each S and decide most who I wanna marry from that. Still taking my time finishing this run but I know the reason why that is now.

Yeah I ended up playing their side story the weekend it was available so he confirmed that to me at that time. I feel like it made a lot of sense. Yeah like I said he works a good team, especially with Linhardt backing him to heal him up. In the end Dorothea almost became just as good as him for me so far, or at least as far as chapter 16. I only prefer Dorothea a bit more because she can strike from a much further distance. Speaking of them it's very important to raise the support you have with Bernadette and Dorothea, especially the former (and the two of them together) as it really explains them well. Yeah his backstory got spoiled for me a bit when I was looking up something about Sothis, even still I look forward to finding out more. But a tough final boss huh? Sounds like I better make time for a little extra grinding before getting that far then.

Can't blame you there as we've both said before Felix is too good to pass up on. I feel that same way about Dorothea now so guess I gotta aim for some magic build up. But yeah no way to just abandon him using a sword especially when he gets granted one. No matter how I build him in other runs using a sword will always probably be my main with him.