Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Far From Houses Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Attack on Titan Season 3.5 Episode 9 complete

Part of me was wondering what happened to Titan powers if someone died before they could pass them on, especially since it nearly happened a few episodes ago with Reiner, so I'm glad they explained it, even if it's super vague and mystical how it actually works. These last two episodes also made pretty much everything Grisha did make sense.

Good to see Historia again, too!
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Also, I'm going to be out of town starting tomorrow until Friday, and I probably won't be able to get on here. With the purge rate extended, the topic isn't in danger of dying now or anything, but just a head's up.
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new quoting system ignores posts with quotes from ignored users

praise allen
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lmao

Cold Steel 2 End of Act 1 Spoilers: Rufus you BS artist. There must be a turn limit on the battle instead of just having him always insta-win on you because I was messing around with him (got a lucky Delay right as he was hitting half health) and just as I was unloading all my S-Crafts because his turn was coming back up and I was expecting him to pull out his insta-win 49999 all-cancel S-Craft on me the battle faded out, gave me the AP+3 notification, and cuts to Class VII all kneeling on the ground and Rufus gloating. Emma was about to reduce him to 1 HP too if it gave me that next turn.

what drama queens. rufus only landed one hit the entire fight for like 3k on Fie she either evaded and countered everything else or his spell ran into emma's magic reflect craft.

I'm actually a little mad because like I said before, I love Rufus's S-Craft. Not enough to reload this save and let myself get blasted by it but still. I was actually a little scared at first that because the battle ended by time-out the game would assume I didn't do enough damage to get the AP bonus but should be fine it seems.

time for best part of the game time
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Pretty remarkable how just a few months ago I thought Fire Emblem Three Houses was an afterthought. All it took was an E3 trailer that showed there was a timeskip and previews showing that the school stuff is kinda cool and now I've got the game preloaded on my Switch.
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Yeah, I didn't enter the hype cycle until about the same time... for roughly the same reason (albeit it was the leaks pre-E3 that got me to pay some more attention as they kept gaining credibility with E3 basically being confirmation)
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Cold Steel 2 has some silly stuff with you easily winning the fight and then after the battle the villain gloats that they easily beat you, especially in the last dungeon.
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Yes, I know. I've beaten this game before! But you actually win those fights in gameplay. I was under the impression before that Rufus was like McBurn/Duvalie in that he just eventually goes "f it" and annihilates you. Either because you took too long or because you reached the HP goal, whichever comes first (and the AP reward depending on which of those it is). Like how McBurn will immediately wreck you once Duvalie falls or the CS1 unwinnable fights. Wasn't expecting the battle to just fade out to the cutscene despite my team being just fine! I thought he would just blast me once he got his turn back to at least keep up appearances! Clearly I was mistaken!
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This was almost certainly voiced in the original release but either way, new contender for best voiced line in Cold Steel 1 or 2: Elliot's "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" when Olivier and Victor say they're giving Class VII the Courageous. lmao. His squeak when Sharon pulls a knife out on Bleublanc when she first appears in Act 1 Part 2 was good but this was next level.
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I guess Three Houses will be waiting for me when I get home.
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I have Three Houses now too and am fighting the strong urge to play it simultaneously with CS2 despite knowing that's a bad idea for me.
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Okay, time for a blind playthrough of my very first Fire Emblem game where I have no clue what I'm doing.

also why is there now randomly empty space between the bottom of the post and the sig divider

it's annoying me because things are different now
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Well, let's go through my early choices in Three Houses.

I decided to go with Normal and Casual since this is my first FE game just to be on the safe side. As for the player character:

Male mortal named Byleth (I assume that's the default canon name and not something randomly generated because man that's an ugly name) born on March--err, under the Lone Moon--the 4th day, ironically the same birthday as this sleepy girl who is totally Cassandra Morris (fittingly the voice of another sleepy character in Fie).

That opening cutscene escalated rather quickly with the Palutena-looking chick going crazy and stabbing Nemesis to death in revenge for the Red Canyon or something of that sort. Turns out it was all just a "dream" and Jeralt (not to be confused with Geralt) tells me to just forget about it because we're mercenaries and dreams have no place on the battlefield. Apparently, my choices have affection points attached to them because I got a heart from Jeralt for one of my responses. I enjoy games with affection points systems so we're off to a good start already.

Now it's time for a battle tutorial, I guess. The closeup of attacking and retaliating is pretty fancy. I like the presentation. Unfortunately, it seems like I'm playing Breath of the Wild because my weapons break after too much use, and you can't fix them in the middle of a battle. I have no clue what I'm doing so I get poor Claude killed (or rather "force him to retreat" since I'm playing Casual mode), but he still ends up as the MVP despite that somehow. Nevertheless, I eventually emerge victorious and Byleth tries to protect Edelgard from the bandit leader and ends up getting chastised by Sothis, who is also known as "The Beginning," precursor to The End, I suppose. Apparently, Byleth's life is too valuable to be sacrificing it for anyone else. Sothis appears to be a tsundere, so figuring out the right choice is difficult.

Byleth's "stunned" reaction when he learns that once Sothis resumes time, he'll be killed, is great. He also has to tell Sothis how to save his life by suggesting she rewind time. Byleth apparently also "bears the flames within," whatever that means. Is he Serge? With time rewound, he effortlessly KOs the bandit leader. After the battle, some guy Jeralt isn't happy to see shows up talking about the students being safe and all. I guess these three dudes fighting with Byleth are the three houses I'll have to choose from at some point.

That's enough for now. More in a bit.
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Time for some more Three Houses

Despite the fact that they haven't seen each other in 20 years (and apparently Jeralt disappeared "without a trace" and Alois hasn't heard anything despite the fact that he leads a mercenary corps, so not exactly a reclusive lifestyle here), Jeralt is quick to be on his way. Alois almost consents and then somehow becomes self-aware of how JRPG plots work and forces us to go to the monastery with him. I picked "I'm his child" when Alois asks me who I am hoping for some hilarious reaction, but Jeralt can no sell a joke with the best of them, it seems. Either that, or he actually is his son and Alois was right on the money. Who knows.

I guess Sothis operates as the Navi of this game because she randomly interjects with an observation that our silent hero can't voice himself. Edelgard goes along with Byleth being Jeralt's son, but I mean, I did say it and she's never met me before, so what else is she supposed to think? The post-battle conversation between the three houses people reflects what actually happened in the tutorial battle, so that was neat. They also clearly don't get along very well and they're all desperately trying to recruit Byleth's services, so this should make for a fun slice of epic life.

Wait, I already have to choose? I've barely gotten the chance to know any of them! This is like being on Love Connection with Chuck Woolery back in the day (raise your hand if you expected anyone to make a Love Connection reference in 2019; my mom watched that show all the time when I was a kid) where you have to choose someone to date based on barely any information and most of the time it ends with serious regrets.

Well, let's talk this through then. Edelgard is cute, although she reminds me of the crazy chick from the intro and I don't want anything to do with crazy. It is advertised as a land of ancient history, which sounds cool. Dimitri is clearly the most "normal" dude of the bunch, so he seems like the safest choice, but that could also make him the most boring choice. Claude has the coolest design. I think he has the potential to be the funniest character of the three, but there's also the potential for him to be super annoying if the humor doesn't land. And watch all of this not actually be the moment of final decision as I ponder my options.
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Eh, let's go with Edelgard for now. She was my gut reaction when I first realized who the three of them were, so let's just roll with my first instinct. Sothis declares that each of the three is most unique, which is a literal impossibility because something can't be more unique than something else. It's either unique or it isn't. Also, they can't all be the most unique. Yes, I felt like going full Anagram nitpicking word choice right here. It seems this wasn't the moment of decision but rather just a chance for some free affection points, so whatever.

Apparently, our hero Byleth is allowed some inner monologue since he's not actually speaking aloud. Like myself a moment ago, he points our a good and bad feature of the three houses people, although the fact that he senses darkness within Dimitri made him sound a heck of a lot cooler. Either way, that's the end of the prologue, and now we're moving on to Chapter 1 proper. We get a fancy mural as the narrator explains the setting of the game. Oh hey, it's the crazy lady from the intro cutscene, and her name is Rhea, it seems. She's the archbishop of Seiros, which is the major religious organization in Fodlan, which would make her like the high priest of the Church of Glabados in FFT. Will a religious organization be obviously evil in this JRPG, too? Stay tuned! For what it's worth, Jeralt does warn me to be on guard against Rhea, so that's already a strike against it!

So Byleth actually is Jeralt's son. I thought it was a joke answer because they look nothing alike, but alas! Apparently, Byleth has been chosen to be the new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. I wasn't expecting this slice of epic life to have me be the teacher rather than the student. I like this new twist, especially as we seek to discover how a silent protagonist can teach a class. Manuela doesn't leave much to the imagination, introducing herself as "available" from the get go, and Hanneman looks like he should be in a Sherlock Holmes story. He also clearly has the same VA as Igor/Ikutsuki from Persona and I can't not hear them when he speaks. Manuela used to belong to an opera company. Vita? Is this where you went after the end of Cold Steel II?

Thankfully, they explain a bit more about the Three Houses, but now I have family crests to take into consideration. Edelgard's Adrestrian Empire is represented by a black eagle. Dimitri's Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is represented by a blue lion. Claude's Leicester Alliance is represented by a golden deer with an impossible number of antlers. The blue lion looks like the coolest of the three at a glance.

There's mention that it was a great fire 21 years before that caused Jeralt to disappear in the first place. I'm sure that'll pop up again at some point...! There's an animated cutscene showing off that we will have a very colorful cast awaiting us as the game progresses. With all that being done, I can finally move around and explore. The game conveniently provides a map showing where everyone is, like Cold Steel, but it also indicates if they have something new to say, which is extremely handy. Good work, Three Houses.
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Saying "most unique" is like saying "very unique". It can be used as an adjective on its own without meaning "the most"

Also the woman from the intro cutscene was named Seiros, in case you missed that.
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Yes, I know. I just felt like poking fun at the phraseology there.
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oh wow the game is kind enough to provide me with dating profiles for all the characters in this school
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LeonhartFour posted...

Vita? Is this where you went after the end of Cold Steel II?

(CS2 Spoilers) You can't comprehend the true nature of the Phantasmal Blaze plan!
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An FE Three Houses question because I've been trying to avoid too many spoilers:

How exactly does the choice between the houses work, and how consequential is it? Is it literally like three entirely different campaigns based on the choice, or mostly the same with different characters, or what?
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My understanding is (I've delved a bit into the leaks but not entirely): It is very consequential although perhaps not at first but they definitely diverge greatly as the game progresses. Separate campaigns, yeah.
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Cool, thanks. I have my copy, but I'm not sure whether or not I'll get a chance to start this weekend (one of my roommates is moving out and I should also really spend some time writing this paper...)
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My girlfriend randomly managed to find a quarter from 1861 (no typo on the date).
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Time for some more Three Houses

After viewing everyone's dating profiles, I start exploring the school. I notice a lot of students just have random thoughts above their heads and you can't actually converse with them. Then the three house leaders will tell you more about the members of their respective houses that are at the academy, in addition to being able to talk with the members themselves, which is handy.

Favorite members of each house just based on what each leader tells me:
Black Eagles - Caspar, Dorothea
Golden Deer - Marianne, Leonie
Blue Lions - Mercedes, Dedue

Quick gut reaction cast rankings: Blue Lions > Black Eagles > Golden Deer

Oh nice, you don't have to report Quests when you're done with them. They auto-complete and give you the ensuing rewards immediately, which is nice.

Ah, now it's time to make the real choice. Looking at it, the Black Eagles are mostly mages, which I tend to avoid in most RPGs. It's just never been a thing for me. The Golden Deer seem to mostly be archers, who value speed and range, which is...okay, I guess. The Blue Lions from a gameplay perspective seem most up my alley, so all things considered, I think that's who I'm going to choose.

Oh dear, there's going to be a mock battle soon. I'm so boned. I'm sure it won't be a big deal and it might not even be mandatory to win, but still. Well, all the Blue Lions want to spar at the training grounds, so I'm already in for it here, too. Looks like I get paid a salary, which is very FFVIII-esque. Also, I like how Byleth's sprite does the "Staying Alive" dance on the loading screens.

Then Hanneman teaches me about Crests, which are divine powers that are passed down through bloodlines, although it's apparently not guaranteed that you'll receive the Crest just because you're from the proper bloodline. Only a select few inherit it in each generation. Byleth is tested to see if he has a Crest, and it's one Hanneman has never seen before. Naturally our protagonist is very mysterious.
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Byleth moves on the loading screen when you tilt your controller.
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Cold Steel Provincial Army Officer is fun but he needed to dial it back in Act 2 Part 1 imo.

there is a time and place my man and that was not it >_>
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Trying to figure my way around the monastery with this map is still rather confusing.
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Oh right.

AoT S3.II Episode Final: Well, Eren is broken. Also what a killjoy, ruining everyone else's beach trip. Okay season finale. Not as awesome as the rest of the season, but that bar was really high because this season was incredible. Hard to see Season 4 living up to this but I guess we'll find out in a year or two.
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New season was already announced for 2020. Delays are always possible, though,
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Attack on Titan Season 3.5 complete. Can't wait for Season 4 and the inevitable Season 4.5. Time to make a revision to the character rankings because Historia has surpassed Mikasa at this point.

Nagato > Maya > Yakumo > Kurisu > Chizuru > Estelle > Leia > Yukiko > Fina > Eru > Kotomi > Phoebe > Aqua > Makoto > Shoko > Mitsuru > Yui > Tessa > Takano > Luna > Yachiyo > Shiori > Daphne > Milla > 2B > Laura > Drummer > Wagatsuma > Ritsu > Akane > Pepper > Historia > Brawne > Amy > Rin > Namine > Seo > Maria > Mitsuha > Peach > Botan > Sophia > Yurippe > Samus > Eureka > Sypha > Art3mis > Valentine > Lotus > Mizuno > Zelda > Vera > Elizabeth > Yuri > Cora > Kotori
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User SaveEstelle is playing Three Houses as well and he chose the Black Eagles, just in case anyone is curious.
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Played the very first prologue map this weekend.

Ill probably go with Black Eagles as well
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I went with the Black Eagles too.
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Well, I'm glad I mixed it up and went with a different house...!
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There was a little B8 poll about it.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77890153

Black Eagles way more popular than the other two combined.
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Wow, didn't realize I picked the least popular option overall.
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Victory in the mock battle is mine. Ashe was my MVP for this one.
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Looks like that's the end of the first part of Chapter 1. I imagine each month constitutes a "part," or at least it seems so by the looks of it. Now we're in the Harpstring Moon. We're given a mission to dispose of some bandits, perhaps the same ones as before, with Seteth being as obnoxious and condescending as humanly possible all the while. Then the scene cuts to the leader of those bandits talking to some dude in a mask, who doesn't even go by an initial yet. He doesn't even seem to be all that interested in what happens to the bandits anymore as he is by what's going on in the monastery with Byleth. I receive my monthly stipend and I'm now allowed to explore more of the monastery.

Apparently, the calendar works more like Cold Steel's than Persona's, where we basically skip ahead to free days and important missions or events.
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My first mission is complete. Byleth seems to recall the Red Canyon being a peaceful place, but Sothis wonders why he remembers it at all since he's never been there before. Also, I forgot to mention after the mock battle, Dimitri mentioned that Byleth didn't look happy that they had won, but nothing more came of it at the time. He also confided in me that both of his parents are dead.

I also had Annette approach me for some late night instruction, and I mean that literally. No innuendo here...!

And now we're moving on to the Garland moon.
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I went Black Eagles. I think all the houses are fairly balanced in role selection though.
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Well, it'll be interesting to see where we diverge since just about everyone here is going Black Eagles. I confirmed with user SaveEstelle that the first two main missions between them and the Blue Lions are the same, although there might be a bit of a twist for me since Lonato's adopted son is a Blue Lion. I wonder what they'll do with that here.
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Annette seems to get along with everyone because I keep triggering support conversations with her and other party members left and right.

She has a really good VA, too. Pretty sure it's the same person who voices Mayaka Ibara in Hyouka.
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Mission 2 complete, my first one where all of my units survived, so that was nice. Catherine was a pretty powerful ally to have, too. It basically seemed like she could attack someone until they died. Good atmosphere for this fight, too, especially with Dimitri and Ashe being particularly torn over the circumstances. None of them can understand why this happened, and Dimitri questions if might makes right, or if maybe Lonato's cause was just even though he died in the process. It makes sense because these are the people of his kingdom, after all. Before the battle, they explained the circumstances of the tragedy of the king (Dimitri's father) being assassinated, and Lonato's son Cristophe being the scapegoat for it.

After the battle, Catherine found plans to assassinate Rhea, but we don't know who gave the order or why. When we return to the monastery, Rhea basically says that Lonato and his people deserved what they got for rebelling against the church. As a result of this potential plot, the Blue Lions are supposed to help with security on the day of a ritual called the Rite of Rebirth. And now we move on to the Blue Sea Moon.
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I just had the quintessential JRPG conversation with Dedue just now.

Dedue: ...
Only dialogue option: ...

And we had that exchange twice!
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Monster actually won SMFAS this year!

Broke down on my self imposed no trading rule at the end there, but it was worth it

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If only there were a place to legally watch the dub.
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Yep, very lame
Also wish the live action adaptation had happened

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Broke down on my self imposed no trading rule at the end there, but it was worth it

tenma would be disappointed that you broke your code

Monster is good though! Its OP is one of the more haunting atmospheric tracks I've heard too, still love it.
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been stuck on a plane just sitting on the taxiway for almost 3 hours now and Im about to lose my damn mind
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Mission 3 complete. Turns out we were right and the enemies were after the sealed coffin of Seiros within the Holy Mausoleum. I learned very quickly that it was a bad idea to mess with the Death Knight, so after a restart, I had little trouble just bumrushing the enemy from one side since the only objective was to defeat the commander. At the end, the coffin opens and a sword (which I assume is a Holy Relic) is inside. Byleth charges the commander and takes the sword, which begins glowing, and he uses it to break through the commander's magic to win the victory. The Death Knight is pleasantly surprised by what he sees and then disappears. Turns out it's called the Sword of the Creator, but its durability is only restored by resting on off days, so I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Upon our return, Rhea is quick to pronounce judgment upon the surviving intruders. However, they deny being part of the Western Church, and they claim they were deceived (by the dude in the mask, perhaps?). However, the judgment stands, with Rhea contradicting herself by praying they find peace as they return to the goddess while also proclaiming them to be hopeless lost souls. Dimitri and the others seem unsatisfied with how everything played out. They expect we will be sent out to "interrogate" (read: punish) the Western Church officials about their role in all of this.

We cut to a scene between the masked dude and some as yet unseen guy discussing what happened. They were apparently the ones who put the Western Church up to the rebellion. They seem disappointed that the body of Seiros wasn't in the tomb (which means...what? Hard to say at the moment), but the Sword of the Creator was supposedly wielded by the King of Liberation, called a "thief" by the non-masked dude. The Crest Stone had already been removed from the sword, but the sword still glowed red without it, meaning Byleth's crest is compatible. Theoretically, it should be impossible, and the non-masked dude says the King of Liberation's bloodline should be...but he stops himself. Extinct, maybe? Which would mean Byleth is somehow a survivor of that bloodline, maybe?

Cutting back to Byleth, Seteth explains that this Nemesis dude was the King of Liberation. Interesting. Apparently, no one has been able to wield the sword since then. Now we move on to the Verdant Rain Moon.
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