The best path is the one bug in an older version of 3H that somehow allows you to start with two classes at the same time, allowing you to recruit Dimitri and Dedue into the Black Eagles.
Always feels important to note that Silver Snow was the original route and all others branch off from it - so any maps shared between them would always come back to Silver Snow. Still have no idea why they gave Nemesis to Claude's route and not the Church route.
Explains why SS is so bad; they didn’t redo it later to actually be its own thing. Then again, the whole way this game was designed as a route-splitting title is… puzzling today the least.
Something worth considering is that a ton of A-rank supports have two different possible combinations, as most A-Ranks have different dialogue in Crimson Flower, with the other version being shared by all three of the other routes the units can be recruited in.
There’s also a degree of variation with Character Endings, even some paired ones, based on which route you’re on; just compare Felix on AM to the other routes, or how Catherine’s solitary ending can be either like it (if you A-Support Rhea) or like VW if you didn’t. With CF doing the most for obvious reasons.
While my favorite class is Golden Deer, and Claude my favorite character, Azure Moon was easily my favorite route. All the characters feel like a close knit family, Dimitri is such a great protagonist, and I like the more zoomed in story of Azure Moon compared to the other routes.
I feel the same way about Azure Moon! Crimson Flower was my first playthrough, though, so I think I feel the same way about Black Eagle as you do about Golden Deer.
I feel like Azure Moon falls apart hard the moment you stop to care about Dimitris emotional baggage, especially since there is little argument for why he would make a good Lord for Fodlan, him being rather uninspired and lacking vision for most of the game. Claude and Endelgard have strong visions and views in comparison, while Dimitri feels like a centrist who stands behind nothing.
@@shizachan8421 Which to be fair is part of the point. Edelgard can't trust a Kingdom that benefits from the Crests as much as it does to achieve change and Dimitri isn't shown to be particularly committal. He's a flawed prince and too young to comprehend what Edelgard went through and why she's desperate for immediate change. It's not a perfect answer but it's ultimately one of the most believable set ups for the main conflict in a lot of media. The war was well justified in the sense that Edelgard was in too deep and it was near impossible for her to talk this one out without getting ousted by TWISTD and killed which was the other major faction she was playing against. (Regardless of how well thought out her interactions with them were.)
@@janrosa7243 People also ignore, that there isn't really much talking with Rhea and the Church. People make up excuses for Rhea and the Church, I would guess because american audiences are so used to apologetism, but especially as an european the parallels with the medieval catholic church and its depiction ingame are enough to show that Rhea does not compromise and will kill anyone who challenges her authority. So the conflict with the church is inevitable and the war means one short terror to end the longstanding terror that is the crest system. I feel like many people don't really comprehend Feudalism and its evils or they play the game under the immersion that they would naturally be part of the nobility in a system like Fodlan.
@@shizachan8421 Americans are also highly individualistic and dislike systematic change because that implies that people can be victim of circumstance. That goes against the neoliberal notion that everyone is where they are as a result of a 100% fair competition and environment.
That was a really sweet message at the end of the video. When taking into account the magnitude of factors that contribute to each of the four paths the ultimate conclusion is that your favourite path is the one that is right for you. You have put a great amount of effort into this project and deserves a great deal of praise. Looking forward to seeing some Engage videos in the future.
I started reading all supports and after seeing literaly everybody suffering because of crests, I knew helping edelgard was the right choice. Luckly I had chose to teach black eagles. I went with her and I was NOT disappointed. I don't care if the route is shorter or unfinished
Crimson Flower is my favorite route not just because Edelgard is my favorite character, but also it feels like the most unique route story wise not just in 3H, but also in FE with it being the first time the did a good job of showing a story from the perspective of the aggressor and what lengths they will go to achieve their goal (although not to high of a bar considering it's competition for that is Conquest)
yea in most FE games the lords are just reacting to what the evil is doing, so edelgard actually initiating conflict on her terms makes her one of my favourites.
If we're talking story, it's easily Azure Moon. If we're talking gameplay, it's Crimson Flower by default, if we're talking about what I believe would lead to the best outcome after the fact, it's Verdant Wind in the longterm. What you pick as your favorite depends one what you're looking for.
I think Crimson Flower has the best outcome because it ends the Agarthans and brings equality. Plus Edelgard is open to improving relationships with Almyra.
@@NinjaananasIt does seem like a pretty good outcome all things considered, just a shame we don't really get to see and experience the moment Fodlan is fully liberated.
Isn’t it also nice to have paired endings that lean towards (if not outright being) platonic; while you can read homoerotic subtext in many same-sex endings, you then have Ignatz/Raphael becoming brothers-in-law, Dedue/Ashe being besties who end racism, or Edie/Lysithea being like adopted sisters; you can also barely read Ingrid/Dedue as romantic, as their ending is much more about serving Dimitri as his retainers (she blushes ONCE but it’s still not romantic-coded). Or Hell, you can’t have Edie/Hubert as a couple because he’ll never push it even when she thought he was kidding about loving her (and he accepts this). I have a number of issues with 3H, but there’s also much to praise and the Supports we did get were at least varied; could have gotten more options for Byleth romance WITHOUT doing what “Engage” did, and a few that should have actually existed (a Sylvain/Bernie B+ if not A, and a C-B+ for Edelgard/Flayn), but otherwise… pretty good.
I love the Azure Moon route, but my only complaint (a small one at that) is that it didn't give Byleth much closure. I know that wasn't the focus of the story, but it would have been great to see them take out Thales (not in his Arundel guise). It just felt like there was a piece missing from the story and it depended on a wiki dig to find out that they were the same person.
Dude this was a fucking amazing video. Huge props to you for making this. 3 Houses is one of those games I never get tired of hearing about. Keep up with the great work, Lewis.
23:19 dude Bernie has one of the best personal skills in the game that is basically free plus 5 damage and pairs fantastically with her vengeance combat art
Not to mention that ashe's personal skill is completely irrelevant in context of three houses because most of the time you can just buy keys, if not in early chapters you can just kill a nearby unit for a key.
It's okay early game, but as your units get stronger and the gaps widen as the game progresses, she'll be among the weaker units. In terms of Vengeance, she'll be the worst at it later on since Dedue and Cyril have a LOT more HP and Str than her, especially with Defiant Strength which boosts it by more than her personal, and is male only. The only thing she has over the other Vengeance users is she's usable on every route, and maybe her higher Dex which helps with critting combined with thr art's +10 boost.
@AkameGaKillfan777 5 damage is 5 damage and builds still run death blow by endgame which is 6 damage. Unlike Dudue and Cryil Bernie also gets pass so she can more easily reach a target and Canto out or if it's a boss behind units just run up and stab. Bernie is considered one of the better units in maddening for the fact that it isn't that hard to damage stack with her to be a delete button
@@AkameGaKillfan777 it's critical early game allow her RIVAL burst damage only Bathlus, Byleth, and Edelgard can really dish out even at chapter 2 thanks to the personal skill and tempest lance at relatively low cost. And is still nice extra damage for vengeance build since you're going to be at low hp anyways. Meanwhile dudue struggles to really get use out of vengeance like Bernadette can due to his bane in horses and flying, not to mention how he's only really available in one route. As well as the fact that you're ditching his strongest tool in his kit which is protection stacking. Cyril doesn't struggle with dudue's primary issue but still has issues, He needs alot more effort to get to the point where Bernadette can be at that point of time you get him especially in silver snow. He only gets lancefaire from Palidan without raising his lances to a ridiculous S+ in lances. Meanwhile Bernadette doesn't need to sacrifice as much of her role to get good use if not better use out of vengeance. She already will activate her personal for vengeance. With easier early vengeance opportunities thanks to Pegasus knight, not to mention falcon knight later on getting lancefaire. Plus she'll easily getting around 20 to 30 damage with the combat arte alone more often than not, combined with plus might 10 with lancefaire and personal, plus weapon might, battalion, and her natural strength will be one shotting most things even on maddening. The extra damage Cyril and Dudue might do is just simply overkill. Plus pass is a tool neither Cyril or dudue has allowing her to take more opportunities they can still.
@@axltheriolu8791 Bold of you to assume I don't defense stack with Dedue, or think that it can't help with setting up Vengeance. Since he doesn't have a crest, he takes damage when entering combat equipped with relics. I always give him the Aegis shield as soon as I get it, which is an automatic 10 damage each time an enemy attacks or uses a turret. Holding a relic or Devil Weapon raises it to 20, and you don't have to worry about durability if you can't counter. Poison Strike raises it to 30, the only time I'll appreciate Maddening Archers. Cyril is a bit more risky, but I often have little issue setting it up when not playing BL. I specifically stated above EARLY GAME Bernadetta can be the best since their HP and Str aren't too far apart, I never said she would always be worse. Going into a class with Lancefaire and/or Canto isn't necessary to make it consistently one-shot most enemies that aren't monsters. If you can say it's not optimal because of Dedue and Cyril's boons, I can say the same thing for Bernadetta with Vantage, Wrath and Death Blow since she's weak in both weapon types that are required to get them. And she still can't get Defiant Strength like they can.
While Azure Moon is still my favorite. After replaying Crimson Flower (first time I replayed a route since I did Crimson Flower first of the routes) it really grew on me with how unique it was to play after the constant repetitiveness of the other routes and gave me a sizable challenge in the last few maps. It went from 3rd to 2nd for me.
My counter skill activated so now I must thank you for this splendid video which was both entertaining and interesting. I have watched many of your Fire Emblem videos and whenever you upload I have a very good time. So many of your jokes have become iconic to me such as your "Blame Takumi" or "GOD DAMMIT KIRAGI THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT" or the Inigo laugh. I wish you the best and have a great year
My personal favorite is Crimson flower. It was my first playthrough and I just naturally did all of the requirements to unlock that route. That twist of being able to join Edelgard and fight the church was mind blowing at 4am.
What a beast of a video... and BK STILL isn't done with Fodlan yet because he still needs to give a proper breakdown of Three Hopes too. As for Three Houses, Verdant Wind is my favorite route.
My favorite route is Verdant Wind. I feel like Claude's Goal is the one I can personally get behind the most, and I feel like it gave the most character development for all of the students outside of their supports (as opposed to routes like Azure Moon mostly focusing on the main lord).
Well damn, this really is a comprehensive breakdown. I was a little amused at you still doing the A-Z Rants style intro for this video despite Gigguk having abandoned that format a LONG time ago.
I remember being super excited to play every single route... then met with increasing levels of disappointment as I realized how many mirror maps there are, even ignoring Part 1. By my fourth run even the story wasn't saving the game in my eyes.
I gotta go with Golden Deer because obviously it's the one with a good ending all around, but honestly from a gameplay and narrative perspective I kinda liked Blue lions better. They are simply more involved in part 1.
This was indeed an incredibly well made video. A lot of debates in text or video form ever take a unbiased approach and just straight up tell the facts as they are and take into account not just the story, but how optimal from a gameplay perspective too. Hats off to you for that. I’ve been and always will be, a die hard Azure Moon fan. I can respect Edelgard for being written as a villain that can become a hero depending the circumstances, but it just can’t beat Dimitri’s redemption of hitting his lowest and forgiving the very person he was hellbent on killing and not having a “My way or the highway” attitude towards clashing ideologies. While your analysis comes down to agreeing, I can 100% accept the flaws of the route. The Lions students have screen time rough, they can’t shine like the Deer students can, it’s more lore history, than lore world building. Also if anyone knows that final specific Edge of Dawn version, that’d be great thanks
@LFPman do you mean the music in the Three houses montage at the end, cause that is edge of dawn. If you mean the music in the end credits of the video, that's the fire emblem theme from melee.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 my bad. Didn’t realise it WAS the OG Edge of Dawn. I get it mixed up with the End Credits Edge of Dawn that plays every non-Crimson route.
What else can i say aside from amazing video as always to the point i make it a priority to watch every new video coming out if this channel. Golden Deer is my favorite route the first one i played because of the characters and the final fight with Nemesis. But i personally feel that the final monastery explore segment before the final boss in silver snow is severely underrated and not talked about enough. Mainly due to the character interactions. I have played every route multiple times before doing S.S. I went into it recruiting every character. When i walked through the monastery and talked to the characters and hearing them talk about what they're going to do after the war and celebrating. Not gonna it felt heartwarming if it's the right word. Because in every other path your fighting and before every final maps/levels. There isn't a moment to breath. But here from the characters perspective it's over, yeah the player knows that this isn't the end but for them it is. With a game without a "true/golden route" it's the closest thing to seeing what happens after the war. And the tragic thing about it is that they you only get to see this by picking the route that they're house leaders are either dead or missing. Felix talks about visiting the graves before coming back to potentially serve Byleth. Shamir say this whole journey got her a bit sentimental towards the end. Leonie and Alois cry tears of joy for making it through it. According to my Switch, its says i have 1,510 hours on Three Houses.
I’m surprised that you don’t mention how different Byleth’s position is at the end of the Crimson Flower route. It’s makes it even more unique than the other routes.
I think all the routes have something the others lack. You could incorporate all the routes except crimson flower into one overall story and the story still has the same endpoint. It also makes no sense for Claude and Dimitri to not make an alliance to stop Edelgard from invading their territories but yada yada Byleth made choice so now everyone not in their class must die.
Well, it’s pretty clear that Claude can’t die, even if the characters don’t know on SS that he survived… funny how in both “Houses” and “Hopes”, his death is an optional outcome for Edelgard’s routes (and he’s the only Lord who *can* die in the latter game ironically). Pre-release, I expected that every route would kill off one of the other Lords, though I assumed it would be a different one depending on who you sided with. That isn’t the case for *obvious* reasons but in my defence it seemed more like a balance to expect before we knew better…
it's actually not that difficult to not kill most of them, as CF route doesn't have "kill everyone!" missions with playable characters on them, you can go through most of them without killing the named characters, safe for the enemy commander and in cloudes case you can spare his life too.
@@cheris5868that's a dumb comment. In AM, Dimitri literally saves Claude after Claude asks for help. So clearly, they do have an "alliance" post Gronder.
For me, Lore and characters: Verdant Winds Themes: Crimson Flower Production: Azure Moon I personally enjoyed Crimson Flower the most, but I was more satisfied with Verdant Winds. Azure Moon was great, I just didn't find all of the Blue Lions as interesting. Overall, I enjoyed 100%'ing the game.
I love how whilst we all fight over which is the best route, pretty much everyone agrees that Silver Snow is the worst. It makes sense, Silver Snow is the route where you abandon your main lord halfway through
I don't think "abandon" is fair considering Edelgard tried to kill the class when they stopped her grave robbing and, as far as the characters are concerned, she's complicit of Jeralt's death, so eh. The problem really is the lack of a strong replacement.
@@fandemusique4693 Fun fact, in that map if Edelgard defeats a unit they’re not dead. The game treats it like if the were defeated in the “Battle of the Eagle and Lion”. So she doesn’t kill in that map.
You don't abandon your lord in SS she betrays you. That's the entire point of the route you can chose to either blindly follow the Lord who has betrayed you or stick to what's right and fight against her
I’d say CF is my favorite basically for the same reasons as yours, plus we finally get to have Constance, Mercedes, and Emile all together 🥹🤲🏼 all the conversations among those 3 did something to my soul, and they all forever live on in the reinstated Nuvelle estate, with a huge rose garden at the center, in my brain 🌹
I can never accept what it does to Seteth and Flayn (they objectively don’t deserve to be exiled from society/killed by Edelgard’s army), but you guys do you.
I gotta give it to AM. I feel its very character driven, as far as its lord goes, which I love. Its veru focused which i also enjoy. Its not perfect. Yeah i wish the other students got to do more. I feel Dimitri does make changes to Fodlan but its never really discussed outside of his ending which is also an issue. Rhea ceasing to exist post time skip sucks too. But Dimitri and the lions are such compelling characters and Dimitri's story hits me so hard that i can forgive these, imo, minor issues. But in my opinion no route is BAD. I love CF a lot too. And SS/VW are good too. 3h is my 3rd favorite game for a reason. I respect how you ended this video a lot. There's so much toxic discourse about this game, i fully agree that each route appeals to different players and I love that. This game is very special.
@@kohaiame26911st is xenoblade chronicles 3, 2nd is persona 4 golden! I can totally get why someone would say 3h is their favorite game. It's phenomenal.
Azure Moon will forever be my favorite in the game. While the other 3 are pretty much about freedom, AM is more so about healing and redemption. Azure Moon was more so about saving Dimitri from his pain and trauma so that he could redeem himself and be the king that he was meant to be. (Also yes it's biased, I hate the fact that he dies in every route but his own....like come on....)
@borjankosarac3645 I dunno, I feel like Edelgard probably would've been fine had she decided not to go to war and settled the entire situation diplomatically(as hopeful as that sounds) while also trying to bring all the houses together to target the true enemy TwSitD and unify together. I mean, she has the crest of Serios naturally, so I'm sure her and. Rhea could've had some kind of civil discussion about the direction that Fódlan could take after everything has been settled. Again, it's a stretch, but would've made for a decent story.
@@Kami_Chaos I don't think tht would work at all imo thts very wishful thinking i wish tht could happen I don't think Rhea and Edel could ever have a civil discussion
Ferdinand's recruiting is further hampered by his supports being chapter locked, in addition to the horrible skills he prefers. I've never managed to recruit him.
you need C+ support (since B is locked) and D+ heavy armor, the heavy armor is annoying but can be gotten with only 3 faculty training sessions if you rig them to be great / use the sauna if you have DLC / boost with the saints, and it's 9 in the worst case if you do none of these, which even that isnt that bad
aw man and i presumed i was doing an overall bad job at trying to recruit him despite my endless effort :((( just arrived at post-time skip of Golden Deer and now it's too late...
It baffles me how little effort the Crimson Flower route got. And, why not just cut down on the effort, and make Silver Snow just part of Verdant Wind? Heck, them being so similar how difficult would it be to just say "You go Verdant Wind or Azure Moon, without the build up - depending on who you had the higher Support with before declining Edelgard.
I find it hilarious hearing you talk down Anna (Which is 100% deserved) meanwhile my sister will never let me forget how she beat Nemesis with a Mortal Savant Anna.
WAHOO BLUE LIONS WON!!!!! But seriously tho three houses is my favorite fire emblem game and you did an amazing job explaining literally everything of what each house has to offer along with gamplay and story. So thank you for the video blazingknight. Hope you will still be around for many years👍
Pretty sure you can do the Jeritza professor training with the base game btw. And he’s free update playable in CF, not DLC. Anna was also free update but who paid attention to that lmao
I didn’t watch it but it is definitely blue lions I’ve never cried as much as I did during a game as with this route. Especially if you did the Mercedes & Caspar paralogue and then defeat the death knight… this game is so heartbreaking
Three Houses is my favourite Game of all time. And CF is my favourite route. This is the first time I really got into fanon, looking for fanart and reading fanfic, which is probably influencing me right now, as I reminisce on the beautiful days I spent with the black eagles found family, which is hinred at in game, but much more fleshed out in fanfics. And now my head keeps supplementing the fanon into the game and enriching the experience.
Best route IMO is AM. My favorite house, my favorite story, and I love the character driven narrative. CF has a bunch of writing issues, but I liked the Black Eagles second best of the houses. CF is shorter and the maps feel more unique in part 2 so it felt less repetitive (although many of the maps are just the same maps, at least your starting positions are different). Golden Deer were my least favorite house. I actually preferred SS over VW because I liked the Black Eagles more than the Golden Deer. Thus for me: AM > CF > SS > VW
I'm sorry, what. You ranked Hubert and Felix as C in character?! Also how did you miss everything Dimitri said in AM? His entire goal is to clear Duscur name and prove them innocent, repair the relationship between Faerghus and Duscur, and make life better for the people of Faerghus. To act like he's just status quo is absurd, when no other lord cares about Duscur at all, nor does any other route care about Faerghus. Dimitri cares about his kingdom and his people more than anything.
As someone who played Verdant Wind first, it pains me to say but I think making it Fire Emblem Two Houses would have been better. Golden Deer seems to have much less reason to exist in this story. Edelgard and Dimitri's stories are interwoven, Claude's is not. If you fight Edelgard with Claude, he outright says he wants to achieve the same things as her, just be less dickish about it. And the final boss is someone they have no connection to. I think the game would have been better off scrapping Verdant Wind, and moving its boss fight to Silver Snow, the use the spared resouces to flesh out the others. Though if you wanted to keep it Three Houses, perhaps they could have rotated the map 90 degrees, and made the people of Duscur and Almyra the same or at least related. If Claude had been personally affected by the tragedy of Duscur and the subsequent pogroms, it would tie him into the central conflict much better. Especially if Dimitri had been less open about disagreeing with the reprisals.
Making Claude related to the tragedy of duscur is actually a really interesting idea, doubly so cause of how Dimitri was directly involved with the event and Edelgard is tied to those who caused, would have added some serious emotional depth.
As a Black Eagle apologist, totally agree with your assessment here. Blue Lions is just the best complete package of a game and feels the most like a traditional FE to me. Amazing that 3 Hopes fumbled Blue Lions so hard though
It's funny that a lot people really don't like blue lions in Three Hopes (I understand why though) cause it was the path I enjoyed the most in that game.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 I've never heard a single Blue Lions fan dislike Azure Gleam. The ones who dislike it are Edelgard fans and understandably so. They dislike how she's a brainwashed puppet. But Lions fans tend to love AG because it gave more agency to the cast vs giving every major moment to Byleth in AM. It also gave better closure to many units like Felix and Rodrigue etc.
Dude, I literally just started playing this game again today, after years of not doing it. My reasoning for choosing the Golden Deer house is way less elaborate than yours: I just like the characters better. 😂
Every route not named Azure Moon was snubbed; Verdant Wind needed Judith at least (and maybe Nader), Silver Snow needed Rhea (and a better second half) and Crimson Flower needed Fleche (what a wasted character) even if you still Hank Randolph and Ladislava offscreen. Just, why IntSys…?
How I'd rank the routes from Favourite to Least Favourite: 1st: Azure Moon 2nd: Silver Snow 3rd: Verdant Wind 4th: Crimson Flower How I'd rank the routes from Best to Worst: 1st: Azure Moon 2nd: Crimson Flower 3rd: Silver Snow 4th: Verdant Wind
@borjankosarac3645 As a SS fan, let me explain briefly about why I rank SS over VW. It's pretty simple. White clouds for Black Eagles is much better than White clouds for Golden Deer. Thus part 1 of SS has Black Eagles, aka a better house than Golden Deer. Next, losing your lord Edelgard on SS is pretty unique vs every other route and FE game. For that alone, it was more interesting than Claude's route. I also love the reunion cut scene of SS better than VW. And Edelgard death cut scene only makes sense in SS too, as she was our former student. Finally, Claude's entire route feels unnecessary. If you gave Nemesis as the SS boss instead, then Claude's route would have nothing truly special. Dimitri's route is the character driven narrative. Edelgard route is the bad ending. SS is the default first written path.
I'd argue you get 11 characters for free in Chrimson Flower, there's the 8 in house, byleth, (I assume were your 9) you'd have to go out of your way to delete an update to not get Jeritza, the wiki calls it "free dlc" but I think it's more accurately an update to the game because it's not like you have the choice to accept it, until they completely shut down the eshop for switch, 99% of players are gonna get him weather they want him or not. Heck, if it's anything like other switch games they start tacking on updates on the physical copies, and it's in 1.1! You also have to go out of your way to select no to not recruit Lysithea. I feel like not acknowledging those 2 completely disregards the whole point of of the minimum recruitment factor, being that you don't have to put any work in to recruit them, and it wouldn't even affect the rankings, but I still don't even know who's you're counting as the 14th for blue, 13th for church, and... the last 3 for golden deer are, there's probably some rando church members who joins automatically if you wait that isn't very well documented Not the minimum recruitment is a very big factor anyway lol
I'd say that Azure Moon is perhaps the closest the game gets to a 'Golden' route, even if only by the fairly grim standards of the game. Edelgard and Hubert are the only mandatory student deaths, the Blue Lions get their 'good ends' (most, Felix in particular, have notably darker endings even if they survive outside of Azure Moon) and many paired endings suggest that Dimitri and Byleth go on to affect the same reforms to the Crest/Nobility system that Edelgard wanted, albeit without a revolution. Duscur is renewed and welcomed as an ally and Dimitri slowly regains his sanity. There's melancholy, but most people are happy. All that said, all the routes have their own merits. I think it's a testament to the game that people can all be justifiably interested in any of the routes. 😊
AM does not abolish nobility or monarchy. It is really nowhere near to Edelgard's ideas. Also, Crimson Flower only mendates Dimitri's certain death of the playable units. Dedue can actually survive. Just like Hilda. And you can ignore Catherine, Cyril and Gilbert at the end so they possibly can survive.
@@Ninjaananas Edelgard's doesnt abolish monarchy either though, unless i missed something somewhere. I thought it was just the noble houses, (which, to be fair, the nobles will still utterly dominate society in a meritocracy since they have more money, education, and connections then everyone else.)
@@Ninjaananas i just rewatched the mural scene, it does not state anywhere that the monarchy is ended. In fact, the opposite is implied when the phrase "from her seat of power" is used in the line proceeding the line of edelgard "setting about to end the blah". So chances are, the monarchy will still exist. So strange thing about how class systems form, they dont form through people, they form through power. Tearing down a class system does not end social class. Edelgard would have to go into every ex-noble and wealthy merchants coffers, take all of their money and assets, and redistribute them. Then, she would have to create a massive education system that specifically educates the poor, and would have to ensure that education is the same level as what nobles recieved. Then! She would need extemely good welfare systems to ensure that people who fall through the cracks of her net dont fall into the poor class. All of these things would take an immense amount of state power and a massive time investment to create. So long as the state has this kind of power, all it would take is one future corrupt leader to ruin the whole thing. Edelgard doesnt have the luxury of time, so we must rely on whomever the appoints to solve this issue. The way i see it, there is no way the monarchy could be dissolved in order to create her ideal society, and she is going to need a lot of military power to enforce it. All of those people she would need to take money from, they wont take it sitting down. The crest system has a similar issue, how does one end it? Crests grant very tangible benefits to those that have them (hilda and dimitri's super strength) for example. Just because she dismantles the church doesnt mean crests cease to exist. They are passed down by blood. Surely she isnt going to extinguish every single crest bloodline, so whats the gameplan here? Hanneman? He could make it so anyone gets a crest... but how is that distributed? Its too dangerous to be given out freely. Would people get state mandated crests? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Either way, if this isnt addressed, the "nobility" will remain, just in a new form.
Azure Moon is my favorite but I'm glad to see that Crimson Flower gets second for despite being the shortest, it is definitely the most unique. The only thing I will debate on is Crimson Flower being the most difficult. The use of Edelgard's Raging Storm, Lindhart's Warp, and no Hunting by Daybreak map makes Crimson Flower probably second easiest from my perspective. I agree Verdant Wind is easiest, since your only real weak link is Raphael, and therefore most will have a solid role with Ignatz, Leonie, and Claude at range, and Lorenz, Marianne, and Lysithea at magic, and Hilda has Wyvern Lord down to a T. Azure Moon is probably second hardest since Dimitri has quite probably the most devastating combo in the game in the form of Battalion Vantage + Battalion Wrath, while Silver Snow comes in first for having Hunting By Daybreak with lots of high speed and bow units against Seteth, and Endgame that's downright oppressive, and no real standout units outside of Byleth, Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Petra, and even some of these are backups and not the strongest tools like a Dimitri or an Edelgard.
1:25:28 let’s not forget, that if you pay attention to the calendar progression, Dimitri visits Byleth relatively soon after Jeralt’s death, and Edelgard and Claude visit Byleth during early Chapter 10
Yeah, for me, the best path is unquestionably Crimson Flower. It's the most unique route and has a lot more weight on the choices you make and the efforts to help others even when you are fighting against them.
Also: Silver Snow getting to fight Those who slither, and Crimson Flower doesn't? And the whole reason you get to fight it is: Hubert left a note. Man that's such a cop out. Why not have Silver Snow be the somewhat bitter sweet ending. Where the Church is "reformed" under Byleth, but Those who Slither are never uncovered, so they go on causing issues in the future.
One issue you didn't address surrounding Azure Moon's tunnel vision is that it also affects lore and events not involving the Blue Lions directly, which causes the side effect of the story straight up ignoring pretty blatant stuff going on behind the scenes - which hilariously, also leads to Dimitri and co. steamrollering over TWSITD without anyone really paying attention. For Crimson Flower, while I agree it's the 2nd best experience the game offers in a vacuum, I feel it's also one of those stories that's strengthened greatly when you also know the context the other provides. Namely, while the Agarthans being dealt with off-screen comes off as wasted potential, this also becomes completely recontextualized when the other stories show you how fighting them onscreen looks like (they are... surprisingly *pathetic* without the Empire backing them up and with their "mystery enemy we have no clue where they are" shtick becoming a non-factor). In that sense, Three Hopes' Scarlet Blaze handled them at their best and - in my opinion - in a way Crimson Flower never could have even if it had been given extra chapters in some alternate reality to ours. Verdant Wind and Silver Snow being third and fourth respectively was to be expected, though as far I'm concerned, Verdant Wind's got Church's route beaten by a wide margin due to its in-house character interactions, Claude being pretty underrated character once you understand the gist of him, and it's overall chill vibe story-wise (which admittedly, is both a pro and a con as you pointed out). Silver Snow meanwhile is shoot down a ton to me due to be a quintessential example of a fantastic idea for a story being helluva underutilized, and for having a borderline nightmarish final map. As for your question; my favorite is Crimson Flower. By a wide margin.
You didn’t mention that if trying to recruit all the other characters outside of your house if you aren’t playing the black eagles path Caspar and Ferdinand are incredibly hard to recruit due to their restricted support levels
CF for me, it the one that age best like wine compared to the others with SB works so well hand in hand. For it short amount of run time. It tries give as much depth to it character in comparison to the other route which fails to give the non-focus lord agency narrative but also a meaning role. Edelgard only works if you are enjoying Dimitri and his Arc or if you already care about Edelgard otherwise. She is does basically nothing as the Antagonist in AM The set up for the route is the best. It not Edelgard suddenly winning a way without explanation which in turn damages all character. By Byleth choosing to side with Edelgard and gain Agency. Rhea now wants their head and heart with Rhea being the one to nearly kill Byleth and sending them to the post timeskip. Claude and Dimitri works so well in CF because it then who prevents the continuation of war for 5 years. Claude manipulates the Alliance that benefits who own goal while preventing Edelgard from getting any further influence inside the alliance. Edelgard has to defeat Claude first because he is the more dangerous strategist out of the two. He is the one who wait till after Edelgard done with the Kingdom to strike. Due to this, Claude is built up to this Master Tactcian. Or rather the master of board games. Meanwhile, Dimitri puts himself and kingdom between Edelgard and Church. She has to go through him first which is what he wants. 3House suffer badly from mistranslation especially CF as Dudue battle dialogue makes it Clear that is Dimitri is out for genocide against the Empire. He want vengeance for Duscur and his father death is falling into TWISTED purpose lies by believing the wrong people. Dimitri has become a person who his WC self would despise and it why Edelgard ultimately has to put him down or otherwise he will continue to fight, continue to keep killing even if Edelgard dies. He has become delusional. Yet it does something brilliant with his death. CF is the route thematically close to the core of what FE and FE lords. In a route that follow the most Anti-FE Lord. Edelgard a female lord from the Empire who is forcibly working with one set of bad guys while is the most pro-active character in all of FE. Has the most realistic and most sincere portrayal of FE lord. The positive belief on people and their potential. Edelgard the person who only know pain and suffer for over the past 10 years of her life. A person who has betrayed by the people she loved and fear connection. Believe in the potential of humanity, believe that commoners, believers in people she has never met has the potential to do anything so as the system enables them. Edelgard unconditionally believes in people despite her appearance, see good in people. When it comes to Dimitri in CF, Edelgard blames the system. Edelgard takes the humanistic theory’s approach by Maslow and Roger. The idea that it the system or society that makes people do bad actions. Edelgard blames the system for the way Dimitri becomes both in CF and other route. As someone who had study Youth and said theory. It hard not to say that she right since Dimitri did get radicalised by Faerghus system. His tutorlige in the Jp by Gilbert, Rodrigue and his father was textbook believe. Edelgard is right here and yet she still believe that Dimitri had potential to be a good king if it wasn’t for the system. That the Dee in there would made by a kind ruler if it wasn’t for the system. CF is the best route because it one of the few FE story you can go back to. Analysis and learn something new.
Azure Moon, best writing. Verdant Wind, complete ending. Crimson Flower, favorite characters (also my first route, so my personal favorite). Silver Snow, exists.
I think it's intersting that you assigned the units specific roles but then judged them on versatility. For example when evaluating the healers you basically said Mercedes is the best healer (which I agree with) but then gave her last place based on her lack of versatility. I know this was a super long video already but it would be interesting to see a version where you judge them based off of how well they fit their assigned roles rather than how well they can be stretched outside of these roles.
One thing I believe that doesn't get talked about enough in CF, which is also my most enjoyable part of this game, is that people are PISSED that Byleth joins the Empire. So many characters are mad at them for that. And I love it. However, this also adds an annoying part where you recruit others from different houses to be in the Black Eagles when they have no legit reason to be there. Most of the Blue Lions fall into this. Mercedes and Sylvan have some legit reasons to join Edelgard's cause. But even then, it's really pushing it. It is really funny when the former blue lions get called out by the remaining ones and the former doesn't give a legit answer. It's "I'm following the Professor where ever they go!", who is following Edelgard.... 😅
ranking the units combat wise was such a mess... the magic stat and spellcasts of the lords dont really matter when the lords are never going down a magic route, edelgard has ragin storm to sweep maps, dimitri has batt vantage/wrath to also sweep maps in enemy phase, and claude is a low investment battwrather who gets into the good classes without much trouble
continued on... and just man.... just try playing maddening for once please also, what do you mean by the kingdom having less battalions than golden deer? do you think only those with an auth boon can carry battalions???
@@idkdk569 Unless you've been grinding Agarthium, 1-turning every Part 2 CF map isn't as effortless as you think it is, and Raging Storm despite its Mt boost is still going to be often weaker than following up normally, let alone a Brave Axe.
"continued on... and just man.... just try playing maddening for once please" I streamed Azure Moon Maddening over on Twitch, I have experience with the mode.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 chapter 16 of CF gives you 5 of cornelia's golems, each of them drop 5 agarthiums, that's 25 of the material, and you only need 3 agarthium to repair aymr you dont need to 1-turn, but raging memes remove all difficulty in part 2, in CF 14, the biggest issue is the reinforcement, and you can just the units sending them with edelgard turn 1
@@idkdk569 The amount of ore monsters drop is random, and that's still 4 more chapters before hand, which you can't use until after you've beaten her map
G o l d e n D e e r Ngl tho, i'm partial to silver snow too bc seteth gets more screen time, tho having to pick black eagles makes me not want to do it bc i'm a deer through and through
There really ought have been a little more variation of chapters even in White Clouds, which literally forces you until Chapter 11 (on the Black Eagles’ path) to do everything the same; had I been asked, I would have adjusted things. For starters, Flayn’s kidnapping should have been the final week of a month *only* and thus made more urgent; this would have given us an additional chapter due to either the 5th or 6th month in the game having two fights (again, have one in the second-last week of it)… And from there, change how Jeralt dies for the love of all good in this world; that way you could overhaul those two (including making one route where you don’t fuse with Sothis) and still have the last two WC mostly the same afterwards… Then on every non-CF route, Ch13-16 are the same *again*, which feels like lazy game design even if 3H wasn’t an infamous time sink of a game. With… differences to different degrees after this; I definitely think that SS should either have done BOTEAL in some way, or something to replace it, maybe even rescuing Rhea earlier and throwing the second half into upheaval. And with the exception of AM, all of them should have had at least one more recruitable character: CF ought to have had Fleche *because why isn’t she our Cyril/Flayn* and maybe Ladislava and/or Randolph; SS needed Rhea, and VW should have made Judith and/or Nader… and if they had implemented my WC changes, I might have spared Kronya to make her playable later (am I insane? Probably, but eh… I would have changed Jeralt’s death so it might be more feasible; the chapter he died was terrible anyway and could have been overhauled). I have more but I’d go off on things I think so I’ll stop there…
storywise id chose golden deer route. gameplaywise id chose blue lions for the MAIN reason you get the dancer gambit. IMO one of the top gambits in the game..
Not that it makes a huge difference but the lords do get unique personal skills, at least after the time skip. Claude gets pass, Dimitri gets avoid 20+ when at full HP, and Edelgard gets Res +4 when she waits. Not a huge deal, but I feel clumping them all together as equal is slightly inaccurate, since Claude’s skill is very easy to take advantage of (especially since he’s a flyer, he can basically go anywhere) while the other two are much more situational
“And substitutes one of the best final battles in the series with a level so bad it gave one of my friends night terrors…” Oh hey Fera. You still alive bro? 😂💀 But yeah very splendid video! Incredibly thorough, lots of laughs, and just puts a big smile on my face given this is one of my favorite video games of all time. Amazing job my guy! Keep up the hard work! ❤️
Crimson Flower is my clear favourite but I do think there are plenty of good reasons to recommend the other routes too (well perhaps a bit trickier for Silver Snow...)
In golden deer, cornelia is still out and about but twsd is destroyed completely. In Blue Lions, most of the leaders of twsd is destroyed and fodlan is most likely more unified than they were in golden deer. Black eagles basically razed everyone to the ground, twsd is still in good shape (minus cornelia) and the secret war between them and the empire isn’t stated as a win or a lost. Blue lions may have the best ending when it comes to fodlan’s future. Twsd’s leaders are dead, cornelia dead, the empire stopped, and the remnants of Twsd are unlikely to be able to revive nemesis without the help of the leaders considering what was said in the final battle when you kill Myson where the grunts said they cannot ket everything go to waste even more, meaning that they are in an already terrible condition after their leaders were eliminated. Even lets say, nemesis and his elites get revived, Dmitri and Byleth would put an end to their onslaught much like in golden deer with claude. Rhea also lives in this timeline to help keep the statues quo of fodlan.
Blazingknight question have you ever considered of doing a ranking on the worlds of fire emblem not level design but the lore and universe of each game
I have thought of something like regarding which era of FE was the best, but that covers a lot things like game quality, sales figures, impact on the series etc.
Honestly, Ive owned Three Houses for years but everytime I start a playthrough I get hit with major choice paralysis ☠️ Not so much in terms of the houses, but more in how I want to play like should I "go in blind" vs hard min-maxing and getting as many units as possible etc.
Now that was a long video! But as for my responses to your question at the end, I'm gonna give my two cents on the best route from a story perspective and my favorite route. Best route: Verdant Wind. Despite lacking the emotional highs of the other routes, there is one key factor Verdant Wind does better than the other routes: give a sense of completion. The other routes have lingering storylines or issues that are not addressed in the main story such as the Arianrhod lie and the Agarthans in Crimson Flower, the Agarthans and proper development of fixing Fodlan in Azure Moon, and the lack of basically everything in Silver Snow compared to the other routes. Verdant Wind, however, doesn't have any lingering storylines, and the route gives enough time to addressing Fodlan's issues through ways such as opening the continent's borders and especially revealing the truth to everyone. So Verdant Wind feels complete to me since there are no lingering issues to address, and it is one of two satisfying outcomes for Fodlan for me. Favorite route: Crimson Flower. Admittedly my favoritism is more so to do with the Black Eagles being my favorite house in the game (plus the best one character wise for me) and one of my favorite teams in fiction. Also helps that I consider Edelgard as possibly the best lord in the franchise unless I ever play the Tellius games and Ike impresses me. Plus, Crimson Flower for me gives one of two best outcomes for Fodlan alongside Verdant Wind (neck to neck to be honest).
It would have been best if Silver Snow was cut from the game so that Konami and Intelligent Systems would have extra time to work on it and release it as a DLC route I don’t think players would have taken issue with this because Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude were marketed as the main leads outsides of Byleth so it’s not like most fans would expect a route dedicated to Rhea at launch
Didn't watch the video but even after 5 years its still Azure moon. Just by far the best told story with by far the best character development of the cast.
Phenomenal Video Mate! For Me: GD is my favorite way to play this game. Love the cast & the world given to me there & I feel like has the best ending. AM has a great story & I love Dimitri’s arc. Sadly has even tho 3H might be my favorite FE…I can’t get into BE & SW due to the leaders giving me angerism or not giving me to latch onto. & in the case of BE feeling like it just stops while SW having great ideas feels too far & too little. As for my best boys & girls: Ferdie, Bernie, Dimitri, Annie, Mercie, Raphael, Marianne, Constance, & my tops being Claude, Yuri, Nuke Queen Lysithea & Fish Goddess Flayn makes me smile brightly.
It’s so weird to see you rate Mercedes last in terms of healers. She is the only unit in the game to have both Fortify AND physic. Plus her crest allows her to use both more times than usual.
That's very true in term of pure healing she's the best, but there's more to being a medic than just healing allies, after all additional utility spells and other factors have to also be considered.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 Very true, she gets criticism for not having Warp. Warp definitely has its uses, but from what I've seen, most people only use warp to skip most of the map and end it early, which just isn't how I enjoy playing Fire Emblem. So it never bothered me that she didn't have warp. I always like to make Mercedes a dark flier, since having a healer who can travel great distances with ease was always super helpful. Plus her relic takes away vulnerability to arrows.
57:22 Forgot to mention how Rhea AND all her dragon pals have Miracle. With Rhea hitting 51 Luck to make your life absolutely miserable. If someone hated Silver Snow solely for this map, I don’t blame them.
Editing is really good, visuals are very helpful- but after the seventh "joke followed by character mentioned saying their voice line loudly" it got a little grating. : ( That aside, everything else about the video is top notch. By far the most comprehensive comparison of the 3 1/4 routes I've ever watched!
3:26 Personally, i think Awakening should be about on the same level as Shadow Dragon in terms of script, with Echoes being around the level of Sacred Stones.
I'd argue thay Bernie can take the role of High DPS with the use of the Vengeance combat art + her great personal skill. certainly puts her above Ignatz at least and can go toe to toe with Petra/Edelgard/Dimitri/Felix dmg wise
The best path is the one bug in an older version of 3H that somehow allows you to start with two classes at the same time, allowing you to recruit Dimitri and Dedue into the Black Eagles.
That was a thing? DAMN!!!
I didn’t know it existed either
I assume this older version also gave you actual gambit boosts even without units you support with?
Enemies don't seem to have that issue.
WHAT
I do want to note here, I only know of this from a post on reddit from somebody it happened to and a mention in a bug fix report.
Always feels important to note that Silver Snow was the original route and all others branch off from it - so any maps shared between them would always come back to Silver Snow. Still have no idea why they gave Nemesis to Claude's route and not the Church route.
That's certainly puzzling, I guessed Verdant Wind needed a final villain of sorts.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 Fair enough. I certainly won't complain about the absolute feast of a final boss fight we got out of it.
@@TheHearthGuy Yeah thank god the fight and the music were excellent
Explains why SS is so bad; they didn’t redo it later to actually be its own thing. Then again, the whole way this game was designed as a route-splitting title is… puzzling today the least.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 From what I've heard, SS and VW endgames got swapped for some reason
Something worth considering is that a ton of A-rank supports have two different possible combinations, as most A-Ranks have different dialogue in Crimson Flower, with the other version being shared by all three of the other routes the units can be recruited in.
That is true and a lovely detail where A=rank supports changed based on who the character have allied themselves.
There’s also a degree of variation with Character Endings, even some paired ones, based on which route you’re on; just compare Felix on AM to the other routes, or how Catherine’s solitary ending can be either like it (if you A-Support Rhea) or like VW if you didn’t. With CF doing the most for obvious reasons.
Jeritza isn‘t part of the DLC, CF got him in an update.
Oh, are we pedantically focusing on one incorrect piece of information instead of watching and enjoying a fun video? Yes? We are?
@@tantacles Well someone is in a bad mood.
@@tantacles Jeeze, all they did was point out a mistake in the video. Don't be a dick.
@@tantacles Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today
@@tantaclesDude got ratiOWNED.
While my favorite class is Golden Deer, and Claude my favorite character, Azure Moon was easily my favorite route. All the characters feel like a close knit family, Dimitri is such a great protagonist, and I like the more zoomed in story of Azure Moon compared to the other routes.
I feel the same way about Azure Moon! Crimson Flower was my first playthrough, though, so I think I feel the same way about Black Eagle as you do about Golden Deer.
I feel like Azure Moon falls apart hard the moment you stop to care about Dimitris emotional baggage, especially since there is little argument for why he would make a good Lord for Fodlan, him being rather uninspired and lacking vision for most of the game. Claude and Endelgard have strong visions and views in comparison, while Dimitri feels like a centrist who stands behind nothing.
@@shizachan8421 Which to be fair is part of the point. Edelgard can't trust a Kingdom that benefits from the Crests as much as it does to achieve change and Dimitri isn't shown to be particularly committal. He's a flawed prince and too young to comprehend what Edelgard went through and why she's desperate for immediate change. It's not a perfect answer but it's ultimately one of the most believable set ups for the main conflict in a lot of media. The war was well justified in the sense that Edelgard was in too deep and it was near impossible for her to talk this one out without getting ousted by TWISTD and killed which was the other major faction she was playing against. (Regardless of how well thought out her interactions with them were.)
@@janrosa7243 People also ignore, that there isn't really much talking with Rhea and the Church. People make up excuses for Rhea and the Church, I would guess because american audiences are so used to apologetism, but especially as an european the parallels with the medieval catholic church and its depiction ingame are enough to show that Rhea does not compromise and will kill anyone who challenges her authority. So the conflict with the church is inevitable and the war means one short terror to end the longstanding terror that is the crest system.
I feel like many people don't really comprehend Feudalism and its evils or they play the game under the immersion that they would naturally be part of the nobility in a system like Fodlan.
@@shizachan8421
Americans are also highly individualistic and dislike systematic change because that implies that people can be victim of circumstance. That goes against the neoliberal notion that everyone is where they are as a result of a 100% fair competition and environment.
That was a really sweet message at the end of the video. When taking into account the magnitude of factors that contribute to each of the four paths the ultimate conclusion is that your favourite path is the one that is right for you. You have put a great amount of effort into this project and deserves a great deal of praise. Looking forward to seeing some Engage videos in the future.
Thank you ever so much.
I started reading all supports and after seeing literaly everybody suffering because of crests, I knew helping edelgard was the right choice. Luckly I had chose to teach black eagles. I went with her and I was NOT disappointed. I don't care if the route is shorter or unfinished
It may be short but the quality speaks for itself.
Crimson Flower is my favorite route not just because Edelgard is my favorite character, but also it feels like the most unique route story wise not just in 3H, but also in FE with it being the first time the did a good job of showing a story from the perspective of the aggressor and what lengths they will go to achieve their goal (although not to high of a bar considering it's competition for that is Conquest)
Conquest walked (and tripped over its shoe lace) so Crimson Flower could run.
yea in most FE games the lords are just reacting to what the evil is doing, so edelgard actually initiating conflict on her terms makes her one of my favourites.
@@windhelmguard5295 She is indeed, very proactive.
If we're talking story, it's easily Azure Moon. If we're talking gameplay, it's Crimson Flower by default, if we're talking about what I believe would lead to the best outcome after the fact, it's Verdant Wind in the longterm. What you pick as your favorite depends one what you're looking for.
Most certainly.
Meanwhile me, a Silver Snow enjoyer: *Sips tea nervously*
You should be… oh *you should be* especially among this fanbase.
JK; not a *personal* attack, it’s just such a frustrating route for numerous reasons.
I think Crimson Flower has the best outcome because it ends the Agarthans and brings equality.
Plus Edelgard is open to improving relationships with Almyra.
@@NinjaananasIt does seem like a pretty good outcome all things considered, just a shame we don't really get to see and experience the moment Fodlan is fully liberated.
THAT'S CLAUDE!!!!
jkjk thank you again for having me! ^^
It's my pleasure thank you for doing such an amazing job.
Before watching: it’s blue lions with Dimitri marrying Hapi and thus being aware of and actively combating Agartha
That support did give him some serious closure for sure.
Isn’t it also nice to have paired endings that lean towards (if not outright being) platonic; while you can read homoerotic subtext in many same-sex endings, you then have Ignatz/Raphael becoming brothers-in-law, Dedue/Ashe being besties who end racism, or Edie/Lysithea being like adopted sisters; you can also barely read Ingrid/Dedue as romantic, as their ending is much more about serving Dimitri as his retainers (she blushes ONCE but it’s still not romantic-coded). Or Hell, you can’t have Edie/Hubert as a couple because he’ll never push it even when she thought he was kidding about loving her (and he accepts this).
I have a number of issues with 3H, but there’s also much to praise and the Supports we did get were at least varied; could have gotten more options for Byleth romance WITHOUT doing what “Engage” did, and a few that should have actually existed (a Sylvain/Bernie B+ if not A, and a C-B+ for Edelgard/Flayn), but otherwise… pretty good.
I love the Azure Moon route, but my only complaint (a small one at that) is that it didn't give Byleth much closure. I know that wasn't the focus of the story, but it would have been great to see them take out Thales (not in his Arundel guise). It just felt like there was a piece missing from the story and it depended on a wiki dig to find out that they were the same person.
Dude this was a fucking amazing video. Huge props to you for making this. 3 Houses is one of those games I never get tired of hearing about. Keep up with the great work, Lewis.
Thank you ever so much I'm glad you enjoyed it so much :)
23:19 dude Bernie has one of the best personal skills in the game that is basically free plus 5 damage and pairs fantastically with her vengeance combat art
Not to mention that ashe's personal skill is completely irrelevant in context of three houses because most of the time you can just buy keys, if not in early chapters you can just kill a nearby unit for a key.
It's okay early game, but as your units get stronger and the gaps widen as the game progresses, she'll be among the weaker units.
In terms of Vengeance, she'll be the worst at it later on since Dedue and Cyril have a LOT more HP and Str than her, especially with Defiant Strength which boosts it by more than her personal, and is male only.
The only thing she has over the other Vengeance users is she's usable on every route, and maybe her higher Dex which helps with critting combined with thr art's +10 boost.
@AkameGaKillfan777 5 damage is 5 damage and builds still run death blow by endgame which is 6 damage. Unlike Dudue and Cryil Bernie also gets pass so she can more easily reach a target and Canto out or if it's a boss behind units just run up and stab. Bernie is considered one of the better units in maddening for the fact that it isn't that hard to damage stack with her to be a delete button
@@AkameGaKillfan777 it's critical early game allow her RIVAL burst damage only Bathlus, Byleth, and Edelgard can really dish out even at chapter 2 thanks to the personal skill and tempest lance at relatively low cost. And is still nice extra damage for vengeance build since you're going to be at low hp anyways. Meanwhile dudue struggles to really get use out of vengeance like Bernadette can due to his bane in horses and flying, not to mention how he's only really available in one route. As well as the fact that you're ditching his strongest tool in his kit which is protection stacking. Cyril doesn't struggle with dudue's primary issue but still has issues, He needs alot more effort to get to the point where Bernadette can be at that point of time you get him especially in silver snow. He only gets lancefaire from Palidan without raising his lances to a ridiculous S+ in lances. Meanwhile Bernadette doesn't need to sacrifice as much of her role to get good use if not better use out of vengeance. She already will activate her personal for vengeance. With easier early vengeance opportunities thanks to Pegasus knight, not to mention falcon knight later on getting lancefaire. Plus she'll easily getting around 20 to 30 damage with the combat arte alone more often than not, combined with plus might 10 with lancefaire and personal, plus weapon might, battalion, and her natural strength will be one shotting most things even on maddening. The extra damage Cyril and Dudue might do is just simply overkill. Plus pass is a tool neither Cyril or dudue has allowing her to take more opportunities they can still.
@@axltheriolu8791 Bold of you to assume I don't defense stack with Dedue, or think that it can't help with setting up Vengeance.
Since he doesn't have a crest, he takes damage when entering combat equipped with relics. I always give him the Aegis shield as soon as I get it, which is an automatic 10 damage each time an enemy attacks or uses a turret. Holding a relic or Devil Weapon raises it to 20, and you don't have to worry about durability if you can't counter. Poison Strike raises it to 30, the only time I'll appreciate Maddening Archers. Cyril is a bit more risky, but I often have little issue setting it up when not playing BL.
I specifically stated above EARLY GAME Bernadetta can be the best since their HP and Str aren't too far apart, I never said she would always be worse.
Going into a class with Lancefaire and/or Canto isn't necessary to make it consistently one-shot most enemies that aren't monsters. If you can say it's not optimal because of Dedue and Cyril's boons, I can say the same thing for Bernadetta with Vantage, Wrath and Death Blow since she's weak in both weapon types that are required to get them.
And she still can't get Defiant Strength like they can.
While Azure Moon is still my favorite. After replaying Crimson Flower (first time I replayed a route since I did Crimson Flower first of the routes) it really grew on me with how unique it was to play after the constant repetitiveness of the other routes and gave me a sizable challenge in the last few maps. It went from 3rd to 2nd for me.
Crimson Flower is my fav route. I knew I was gonna choose Black Eagles from the trailers. Although I had the most fun playing Azure Moon
My counter skill activated so now I must thank you for this splendid video which was both entertaining and interesting. I have watched many of your Fire Emblem videos and whenever you upload I have a very good time. So many of your jokes have become iconic to me such as your "Blame Takumi" or "GOD DAMMIT KIRAGI THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT" or the Inigo laugh. I wish you the best and have a great year
Thank you ever so much and I'm glad you enjoyed this vid and the jokes I make. Your words are very kind :)
My personal favorite is Crimson flower. It was my first playthrough and I just naturally did all of the requirements to unlock that route. That twist of being able to join Edelgard and fight the church was mind blowing at 4am.
What a beast of a video... and BK STILL isn't done with Fodlan yet because he still needs to give a proper breakdown of Three Hopes too. As for Three Houses, Verdant Wind is my favorite route.
My favorite route is Verdant Wind. I feel like Claude's Goal is the one I can personally get behind the most, and I feel like it gave the most character development for all of the students outside of their supports (as opposed to routes like Azure Moon mostly focusing on the main lord).
Well damn, this really is a comprehensive breakdown.
I was a little amused at you still doing the A-Z Rants style intro for this video despite Gigguk having abandoned that format a LONG time ago.
Well it's been a long time since I did one of these so figured bring back the intro for old times sake.
I remember being super excited to play every single route... then met with increasing levels of disappointment as I realized how many mirror maps there are, even ignoring Part 1. By my fourth run even the story wasn't saving the game in my eyes.
I gotta go with Golden Deer because obviously it's the one with a good ending all around, but honestly from a gameplay and narrative perspective I kinda liked Blue lions better. They are simply more involved in part 1.
The blue lions defo get the most out of part 1 compared to the other houses.
This was indeed an incredibly well made video. A lot of debates in text or video form ever take a unbiased approach and just straight up tell the facts as they are and take into account not just the story, but how optimal from a gameplay perspective too. Hats off to you for that.
I’ve been and always will be, a die hard Azure Moon fan. I can respect Edelgard for being written as a villain that can become a hero depending the circumstances, but it just can’t beat Dimitri’s redemption of hitting his lowest and forgiving the very person he was hellbent on killing and not having a “My way or the highway” attitude towards clashing ideologies. While your analysis comes down to agreeing, I can 100% accept the flaws of the route. The Lions students have screen time rough, they can’t shine like the Deer students can, it’s more lore history, than lore world building.
Also if anyone knows that final specific Edge of Dawn version, that’d be great thanks
Thank you ever so much I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 soooo, what was the exact final music at the end if you remember?
@LFPman do you mean the music in the Three houses montage at the end, cause that is edge of dawn.
If you mean the music in the end credits of the video, that's the fire emblem theme from melee.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 my bad. Didn’t realise it WAS the OG Edge of Dawn. I get it mixed up with the End Credits Edge of Dawn that plays every non-Crimson route.
19:50: bro you did not just say Goody Basket is better than Born Fighter 💀
Ikr Raphael isn’t exactly lucky
What else can i say aside from amazing video as always to the point i make it a priority to watch every new video coming out if this channel.
Golden Deer is my favorite route the first one i played because of the characters and the final fight with Nemesis. But i personally feel that the final monastery explore segment before the final boss in silver snow is severely underrated and not talked about enough. Mainly due to the character interactions. I have played every route multiple times before doing S.S. I went into it recruiting every character. When i walked through the monastery and talked to the characters and hearing them talk about what they're going to do after the war and celebrating. Not gonna it felt heartwarming if it's the right word. Because in every other path your fighting and before every final maps/levels. There isn't a moment to breath. But here from the characters perspective it's over, yeah the player knows that this isn't the end but for them it is. With a game without a "true/golden route" it's the closest thing to seeing what happens after the war. And the tragic thing about it is that they you only get to see this by picking the route that they're house leaders are either dead or missing. Felix talks about visiting the graves before coming back to potentially serve Byleth. Shamir say this whole journey got her a bit sentimental towards the end. Leonie and Alois cry tears of joy for making it through it.
According to my Switch, its says i have 1,510 hours on Three Houses.
They do make for love little details at the end of Silver Snow, and thank you ever so much I'm glad you enjoy my work so much :)
This is amazing work! Thank you! For my best wishes!
Thank you ever so much :)
I’m surprised that you don’t mention how different Byleth’s position is at the end of the Crimson Flower route. It’s makes it even more unique than the other routes.
I personally didn't think it was much of a big deal but it's certainly an interesting detail regarding where Byleth ends up.
Azure Moon. Next Question.
Preach, and I will never not marry Dimitri when I play it
I think all the routes have something the others lack. You could incorporate all the routes except crimson flower into one overall story and the story still has the same endpoint. It also makes no sense for Claude and Dimitri to not make an alliance to stop Edelgard from invading their territories but yada yada Byleth made choice so now everyone not in their class must die.
Well, it’s pretty clear that Claude can’t die, even if the characters don’t know on SS that he survived… funny how in both “Houses” and “Hopes”, his death is an optional outcome for Edelgard’s routes (and he’s the only Lord who *can* die in the latter game ironically).
Pre-release, I expected that every route would kill off one of the other Lords, though I assumed it would be a different one depending on who you sided with. That isn’t the case for *obvious* reasons but in my defence it seemed more like a balance to expect before we knew better…
it's actually not that difficult to not kill most of them, as CF route doesn't have "kill everyone!" missions with playable characters on them, you can go through most of them without killing the named characters, safe for the enemy commander and in cloudes case you can spare his life too.
in AM and VW at least, how are they supposed to make an alliance when dimitri are being batshit insane
@@cheris5868that's a dumb comment. In AM, Dimitri literally saves Claude after Claude asks for help. So clearly, they do have an "alliance" post Gronder.
"Ferdinand should be mounted, Bernie may be a sniper, and Petra a potential peg knight." God damn, the Internet has ruined my brain.
This is one hell of a big one. Nice job man. Very nice job.
Thank you ever so much :)
For me,
Lore and characters: Verdant Winds
Themes: Crimson Flower
Production: Azure Moon
I personally enjoyed Crimson Flower the most, but I was more satisfied with Verdant Winds. Azure Moon was great, I just didn't find all of the Blue Lions as interesting. Overall, I enjoyed 100%'ing the game.
Nearly word for word my feelings on the routes. With silver snow in last in all regards.
I love how whilst we all fight over which is the best route, pretty much everyone agrees that Silver Snow is the worst. It makes sense, Silver Snow is the route where you abandon your main lord halfway through
I don't think "abandon" is fair considering Edelgard tried to kill the class when they stopped her grave robbing and, as far as the characters are concerned, she's complicit of Jeralt's death, so eh.
The problem really is the lack of a strong replacement.
Silver snow is garbage the route could be completely cut from the game and not much would be lost.
@@fandemusique4693
Fun fact, in that map if Edelgard defeats a unit they’re not dead. The game treats it like if the were defeated in the “Battle of the Eagle and Lion”. So she doesn’t kill in that map.
@@ahaloburnout except her troops does, she's still guilty of that.
You don't abandon your lord in SS she betrays you. That's the entire point of the route you can chose to either blindly follow the Lord who has betrayed you or stick to what's right and fight against her
I’d say CF is my favorite basically for the same reasons as yours, plus we finally get to have Constance, Mercedes, and Emile all together 🥹🤲🏼 all the conversations among those 3 did something to my soul, and they all forever live on in the reinstated Nuvelle estate, with a huge rose garden at the center, in my brain 🌹
That's a lovely head cannon you've made for them :)
I can never accept what it does to Seteth and Flayn (they objectively don’t deserve to be exiled from society/killed by Edelgard’s army), but you guys do you.
I gotta give it to AM. I feel its very character driven, as far as its lord goes, which I love. Its veru focused which i also enjoy. Its not perfect. Yeah i wish the other students got to do more. I feel Dimitri does make changes to Fodlan but its never really discussed outside of his ending which is also an issue. Rhea ceasing to exist post time skip sucks too. But Dimitri and the lions are such compelling characters and Dimitri's story hits me so hard that i can forgive these, imo, minor issues. But in my opinion no route is BAD. I love CF a lot too. And SS/VW are good too. 3h is my 3rd favorite game for a reason.
I respect how you ended this video a lot. There's so much toxic discourse about this game, i fully agree that each route appeals to different players and I love that. This game is very special.
Thanks very much :)
Wow, this is your 3rd favorite game? It makes me wonder what your top two picks are? I'm genuinely curious because 3H might be #1 for me.
@@kohaiame26911st is xenoblade chronicles 3, 2nd is persona 4 golden! I can totally get why someone would say 3h is their favorite game. It's phenomenal.
someone appreciated leonie, I can be happy now
Leonie is goated.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50I am still finishing the video, I take time to time to watch entirely, but you earn a subscribe
Leonie lets goooooo
Leonie is the best
Leonie flying/Mage?
Azure Moon will forever be my favorite in the game. While the other 3 are pretty much about freedom, AM is more so about healing and redemption. Azure Moon was more so about saving Dimitri from his pain and trauma so that he could redeem himself and be the king that he was meant to be. (Also yes it's biased, I hate the fact that he dies in every route but his own....like come on....)
Just goes to show how important Byleth is to Dimitri, dude literally can't live without them.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 sad but true
I mean, you can say the same for Edelgard… outside of “Hopes”, both of them are doomed without Byleth.
@borjankosarac3645 I dunno, I feel like Edelgard probably would've been fine had she decided not to go to war and settled the entire situation diplomatically(as hopeful as that sounds) while also trying to bring all the houses together to target the true enemy TwSitD and unify together. I mean, she has the crest of Serios naturally, so I'm sure her and. Rhea could've had some kind of civil discussion about the direction that Fódlan could take after everything has been settled. Again, it's a stretch, but would've made for a decent story.
@@Kami_Chaos I don't think tht would work at all imo thts very wishful thinking i wish tht could happen I don't think Rhea and Edel could ever have a civil discussion
Ferdinand's recruiting is further hampered by his supports being chapter locked, in addition to the horrible skills he prefers. I've never managed to recruit him.
you need C+ support (since B is locked) and D+ heavy armor, the heavy armor is annoying but can be gotten with only 3 faculty training sessions if you rig them to be great / use the sauna if you have DLC / boost with the saints, and it's 9 in the worst case if you do none of these, which even that isnt that bad
Or just do CF/SS first so you can use Renown on your next playthrough; otherwise he’s about the most obtuse character to recruit from his House.
@@borjankosarac3645 NG+ is for pu$$ies, removes all difficulty and fun from managing wexp at the beginning
@@borjankosarac3645 NG+ is for pu $ $ ies and ruins the fun of monastery management, takes away all the difficulty from an already easy game
aw man and i presumed i was doing an overall bad job at trying to recruit him despite my endless effort :((( just arrived at post-time skip of Golden Deer and now it's too late...
It baffles me how little effort the Crimson Flower route got. And, why not just cut down on the effort, and make Silver Snow just part of Verdant Wind? Heck, them being so similar how difficult would it be to just say "You go Verdant Wind or Azure Moon, without the build up - depending on who you had the higher Support with before declining Edelgard.
Used Edelgard with War Cleric for my whole Crimson Flower run. She deleted enemies.
I figured she would, fist faire Edelgard is nothing to scoff at.
Used Edelgard as a bow knight because I’m thirsty.
Great video. I personally rank the 4 routes in the same positions that you did.
Thank you very much and sweet glad to know we're on the same page.
I find it hilarious hearing you talk down Anna (Which is 100% deserved) meanwhile my sister will never let me forget how she beat Nemesis with a Mortal Savant Anna.
Guess that investment paid off.
WAHOO BLUE LIONS WON!!!!!
But seriously tho three houses is my favorite fire emblem game and you did an amazing job explaining literally everything of what each house has to offer along with gamplay and story. So thank you for the video blazingknight. Hope you will still be around for many years👍
Thank you ever so much I'm glad you enjoyed the video and I certainly plan to stick around for as long as I can.
I hope that a top 10 3H supports video gets made at some point, now that all the routes have been covered
Pretty sure you can do the Jeritza professor training with the base game btw. And he’s free update playable in CF, not DLC. Anna was also free update but who paid attention to that lmao
Indeed, I got Jeritza during CF without getting any of the DLC
Well obviously the right path is the path I chose, because then why else did I pick it?
I didn’t watch it but it is definitely blue lions I’ve never cried as much as I did during a game as with this route. Especially if you did the Mercedes & Caspar paralogue and then defeat the death knight… this game is so heartbreaking
Azure Moon definitely has the most emotional moments in the game that's for sure.
Three Houses is my favourite Game of all time. And CF is my favourite route. This is the first time I really got into fanon, looking for fanart and reading fanfic, which is probably influencing me right now, as I reminisce on the beautiful days I spent with the black eagles found family, which is hinred at in game, but much more fleshed out in fanfics. And now my head keeps supplementing the fanon into the game and enriching the experience.
Best route IMO is AM. My favorite house, my favorite story, and I love the character driven narrative.
CF has a bunch of writing issues, but I liked the Black Eagles second best of the houses. CF is shorter and the maps feel more unique in part 2 so it felt less repetitive (although many of the maps are just the same maps, at least your starting positions are different).
Golden Deer were my least favorite house. I actually preferred SS over VW because I liked the Black Eagles more than the Golden Deer.
Thus for me:
AM > CF > SS > VW
I'm sorry, what. You ranked Hubert and Felix as C in character?!
Also how did you miss everything Dimitri said in AM? His entire goal is to clear Duscur name and prove them innocent, repair the relationship between Faerghus and Duscur, and make life better for the people of Faerghus. To act like he's just status quo is absurd, when no other lord cares about Duscur at all, nor does any other route care about Faerghus. Dimitri cares about his kingdom and his people more than anything.
As someone who played Verdant Wind first, it pains me to say but I think making it Fire Emblem Two Houses would have been better. Golden Deer seems to have much less reason to exist in this story. Edelgard and Dimitri's stories are interwoven, Claude's is not. If you fight Edelgard with Claude, he outright says he wants to achieve the same things as her, just be less dickish about it. And the final boss is someone they have no connection to. I think the game would have been better off scrapping Verdant Wind, and moving its boss fight to Silver Snow, the use the spared resouces to flesh out the others.
Though if you wanted to keep it Three Houses, perhaps they could have rotated the map 90 degrees, and made the people of Duscur and Almyra the same or at least related. If Claude had been personally affected by the tragedy of Duscur and the subsequent pogroms, it would tie him into the central conflict much better. Especially if Dimitri had been less open about disagreeing with the reprisals.
Making Claude related to the tragedy of duscur is actually a really interesting idea, doubly so cause of how Dimitri was directly involved with the event and Edelgard is tied to those who caused, would have added some serious emotional depth.
Azure Moon for me, followed by Crimson Flower. I like Claude, but all the shared content sours the pucture for me :(
As a Black Eagle apologist, totally agree with your assessment here. Blue Lions is just the best complete package of a game and feels the most like a traditional FE to me. Amazing that 3 Hopes fumbled Blue Lions so hard though
It's funny that a lot people really don't like blue lions in Three Hopes (I understand why though) cause it was the path I enjoyed the most in that game.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50
I've never heard a single Blue Lions fan dislike Azure Gleam. The ones who dislike it are Edelgard fans and understandably so. They dislike how she's a brainwashed puppet. But Lions fans tend to love AG because it gave more agency to the cast vs giving every major moment to Byleth in AM. It also gave better closure to many units like Felix and Rodrigue etc.
to me, the bast path is Verdent winds, and my favorite on too
Dude, I literally just started playing this game again today, after years of not doing it. My reasoning for choosing the Golden Deer house is way less elaborate than yours: I just like the characters better. 😂
And that's more than enough reason to do so, the deer have a wonderful ensemble.
Indeed their dynamic is the biggest reason why I love their route the most
Early Game: Blue Lions. Late Game: either Wyvernlord Edelgard or Golden Deers.😊
I‘ll be the first to say it:
Verdant Wind got SNUBBED by Judith not being playable 😢
That is very much true.
Every route not named Azure Moon was snubbed; Verdant Wind needed Judith at least (and maybe Nader), Silver Snow needed Rhea (and a better second half) and Crimson Flower needed Fleche (what a wasted character) even if you still Hank Randolph and Ladislava offscreen. Just, why IntSys…?
How I'd rank the routes from Favourite to Least Favourite:
1st: Azure Moon
2nd: Silver Snow
3rd: Verdant Wind
4th: Crimson Flower
How I'd rank the routes from Best to Worst:
1st: Azure Moon
2nd: Crimson Flower
3rd: Silver Snow
4th: Verdant Wind
Either way Azure Moon comes out on top!
Well, anyone putting Silver Snow above any other route is… Eh? Mostly… but you do you I suppose.
@borjankosarac3645
As a SS fan, let me explain briefly about why I rank SS over VW. It's pretty simple.
White clouds for Black Eagles is much better than White clouds for Golden Deer. Thus part 1 of SS has Black Eagles, aka a better house than Golden Deer.
Next, losing your lord Edelgard on SS is pretty unique vs every other route and FE game. For that alone, it was more interesting than Claude's route. I also love the reunion cut scene of SS better than VW. And Edelgard death cut scene only makes sense in SS too, as she was our former student.
Finally, Claude's entire route feels unnecessary. If you gave Nemesis as the SS boss instead, then Claude's route would have nothing truly special. Dimitri's route is the character driven narrative. Edelgard route is the bad ending. SS is the default first written path.
Here's how I rank each route.
1st Place: Azure Moon
2nd Place: Crimson Flower
3rd Place: Cindered Shadows
4th Place: White Clouds
5th Place: Verdant Rain
6th Place: Silver Snow
I'd argue you get 11 characters for free in Chrimson Flower, there's the 8 in house, byleth, (I assume were your 9) you'd have to go out of your way to delete an update to not get Jeritza, the wiki calls it "free dlc" but I think it's more accurately an update to the game because it's not like you have the choice to accept it, until they completely shut down the eshop for switch, 99% of players are gonna get him weather they want him or not. Heck, if it's anything like other switch games they start tacking on updates on the physical copies, and it's in 1.1! You also have to go out of your way to select no to not recruit Lysithea. I feel like not acknowledging those 2 completely disregards the whole point of of the minimum recruitment factor, being that you don't have to put any work in to recruit them, and it wouldn't even affect the rankings, but I still don't even know who's you're counting as the 14th for blue, 13th for church, and... the last 3 for golden deer are, there's probably some rando church members who joins automatically if you wait that isn't very well documented
Not the minimum recruitment is a very big factor anyway lol
I'd say that Azure Moon is perhaps the closest the game gets to a 'Golden' route, even if only by the fairly grim standards of the game.
Edelgard and Hubert are the only mandatory student deaths, the Blue Lions get their 'good ends' (most, Felix in particular, have notably darker endings even if they survive outside of Azure Moon) and many paired endings suggest that Dimitri and Byleth go on to affect the same reforms to the Crest/Nobility system that Edelgard wanted, albeit without a revolution. Duscur is renewed and welcomed as an ally and Dimitri slowly regains his sanity. There's melancholy, but most people are happy.
All that said, all the routes have their own merits. I think it's a testament to the game that people can all be justifiably interested in any of the routes. 😊
Most certainly it's great that each route pertains enough unique merits that each outcome can be seen as an overall net positive.
AM does not abolish nobility or monarchy. It is really nowhere near to Edelgard's ideas.
Also, Crimson Flower only mendates Dimitri's certain death of the playable units. Dedue can actually survive. Just like Hilda. And you can ignore Catherine, Cyril and Gilbert at the end so they possibly can survive.
@@Ninjaananas Edelgard's doesnt abolish monarchy either though, unless i missed something somewhere. I thought it was just the noble houses, (which, to be fair, the nobles will still utterly dominate society in a meritocracy since they have more money, education, and connections then everyone else.)
@@manchovieclemmons2380
The CF ending mural scene states that people are free of the tyranny of crest and status. That implies an egalitarian society.
@@Ninjaananas i just rewatched the mural scene, it does not state anywhere that the monarchy is ended. In fact, the opposite is implied when the phrase "from her seat of power" is used in the line proceeding the line of edelgard "setting about to end the blah". So chances are, the monarchy will still exist.
So strange thing about how class systems form, they dont form through people, they form through power. Tearing down a class system does not end social class. Edelgard would have to go into every ex-noble and wealthy merchants coffers, take all of their money and assets, and redistribute them. Then, she would have to create a massive education system that specifically educates the poor, and would have to ensure that education is the same level as what nobles recieved. Then! She would need extemely good welfare systems to ensure that people who fall through the cracks of her net dont fall into the poor class. All of these things would take an immense amount of state power and a massive time investment to create. So long as the state has this kind of power, all it would take is one future corrupt leader to ruin the whole thing. Edelgard doesnt have the luxury of time, so we must rely on whomever the appoints to solve this issue. The way i see it, there is no way the monarchy could be dissolved in order to create her ideal society, and she is going to need a lot of military power to enforce it. All of those people she would need to take money from, they wont take it sitting down.
The crest system has a similar issue, how does one end it? Crests grant very tangible benefits to those that have them (hilda and dimitri's super strength) for example. Just because she dismantles the church doesnt mean crests cease to exist. They are passed down by blood. Surely she isnt going to extinguish every single crest bloodline, so whats the gameplan here? Hanneman? He could make it so anyone gets a crest... but how is that distributed? Its too dangerous to be given out freely. Would people get state mandated crests? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Either way, if this isnt addressed, the "nobility" will remain, just in a new form.
Azure Moon is my favorite but I'm glad to see that Crimson Flower gets second for despite being the shortest, it is definitely the most unique.
The only thing I will debate on is Crimson Flower being the most difficult. The use of Edelgard's Raging Storm, Lindhart's Warp, and no Hunting by Daybreak map makes Crimson Flower probably second easiest from my perspective. I agree Verdant Wind is easiest, since your only real weak link is Raphael, and therefore most will have a solid role with Ignatz, Leonie, and Claude at range, and Lorenz, Marianne, and Lysithea at magic, and Hilda has Wyvern Lord down to a T. Azure Moon is probably second hardest since Dimitri has quite probably the most devastating combo in the game in the form of Battalion Vantage + Battalion Wrath, while Silver Snow comes in first for having Hunting By Daybreak with lots of high speed and bow units against Seteth, and Endgame that's downright oppressive, and no real standout units outside of Byleth, Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Petra, and even some of these are backups and not the strongest tools like a Dimitri or an Edelgard.
1:25:28 let’s not forget, that if you pay attention to the calendar progression, Dimitri visits Byleth relatively soon after Jeralt’s death, and Edelgard and Claude visit Byleth during early Chapter 10
Yeah, for me, the best path is unquestionably Crimson Flower. It's the most unique route and has a lot more weight on the choices you make and the efforts to help others even when you are fighting against them.
Also: Silver Snow getting to fight Those who slither, and Crimson Flower doesn't? And the whole reason you get to fight it is: Hubert left a note.
Man that's such a cop out. Why not have Silver Snow be the somewhat bitter sweet ending. Where the Church is "reformed" under Byleth, but Those who Slither are never uncovered, so they go on causing issues in the future.
One issue you didn't address surrounding Azure Moon's tunnel vision is that it also affects lore and events not involving the Blue Lions directly, which causes the side effect of the story straight up ignoring pretty blatant stuff going on behind the scenes - which hilariously, also leads to Dimitri and co. steamrollering over TWSITD without anyone really paying attention.
For Crimson Flower, while I agree it's the 2nd best experience the game offers in a vacuum, I feel it's also one of those stories that's strengthened greatly when you also know the context the other provides. Namely, while the Agarthans being dealt with off-screen comes off as wasted potential, this also becomes completely recontextualized when the other stories show you how fighting them onscreen looks like (they are... surprisingly *pathetic* without the Empire backing them up and with their "mystery enemy we have no clue where they are" shtick becoming a non-factor). In that sense, Three Hopes' Scarlet Blaze handled them at their best and - in my opinion - in a way Crimson Flower never could have even if it had been given extra chapters in some alternate reality to ours.
Verdant Wind and Silver Snow being third and fourth respectively was to be expected, though as far I'm concerned, Verdant Wind's got Church's route beaten by a wide margin due to its in-house character interactions, Claude being pretty underrated character once you understand the gist of him, and it's overall chill vibe story-wise (which admittedly, is both a pro and a con as you pointed out). Silver Snow meanwhile is shoot down a ton to me due to be a quintessential example of a fantastic idea for a story being helluva underutilized, and for having a borderline nightmarish final map.
As for your question; my favorite is Crimson Flower. By a wide margin.
You didn’t mention that if trying to recruit all the other characters outside of your house if you aren’t playing the black eagles path Caspar and Ferdinand are incredibly hard to recruit due to their restricted support levels
CF for me, it the one that age best like wine compared to the others with SB works so well hand in hand.
For it short amount of run time. It tries give as much depth to it character in comparison to the other route which fails to give the non-focus lord agency narrative but also a meaning role.
Edelgard only works if you are enjoying Dimitri and his Arc or if you already care about Edelgard otherwise. She is does basically nothing as the Antagonist in AM
The set up for the route is the best. It not Edelgard suddenly winning a way without explanation which in turn damages all character.
By Byleth choosing to side with Edelgard and gain Agency. Rhea now wants their head and heart with Rhea being the one to nearly kill Byleth and sending them to the post timeskip.
Claude and Dimitri works so well in CF because it then who prevents the continuation of war for 5 years.
Claude manipulates the Alliance that benefits who own goal while preventing Edelgard from getting any further influence inside the alliance.
Edelgard has to defeat Claude first because he is the more dangerous strategist out of the two. He is the one who wait till after Edelgard done with the Kingdom to strike. Due to this, Claude is built up to this Master Tactcian. Or rather the master of board games.
Meanwhile, Dimitri puts himself and kingdom between Edelgard and Church. She has to go through him first which is what he wants.
3House suffer badly from mistranslation especially CF as Dudue battle dialogue makes it Clear that is Dimitri is out for genocide against the Empire. He want vengeance for Duscur and his father death is falling into TWISTED purpose lies by believing the wrong people.
Dimitri has become a person who his WC self would despise and it why Edelgard ultimately has to put him down or otherwise he will continue to fight, continue to keep killing even if Edelgard dies. He has become delusional. Yet it does something brilliant with his death.
CF is the route thematically close to the core of what FE and FE lords. In a route that follow the most Anti-FE Lord.
Edelgard a female lord from the Empire who is forcibly working with one set of bad guys while is the most pro-active character in all of FE.
Has the most realistic and most sincere portrayal of FE lord. The positive belief on people and their potential.
Edelgard the person who only know pain and suffer for over the past 10 years of her life. A person who has betrayed by the people she loved and fear connection.
Believe in the potential of humanity, believe that commoners, believers in people she has never met has the potential to do anything so as the system enables them.
Edelgard unconditionally believes in people despite her appearance, see good in people.
When it comes to Dimitri in CF, Edelgard blames the system. Edelgard takes the humanistic theory’s approach by Maslow and Roger. The idea that it the system or society that makes people do bad actions.
Edelgard blames the system for the way Dimitri becomes both in CF and other route. As someone who had study Youth and said theory. It hard not to say that she right since Dimitri did get radicalised by Faerghus system. His tutorlige in the Jp by Gilbert, Rodrigue and his father was textbook believe.
Edelgard is right here and yet she still believe that Dimitri had potential to be a good king if it wasn’t for the system. That the Dee in there would made by a kind ruler if it wasn’t for the system.
CF is the best route because it one of the few FE story you can go back to. Analysis and learn something new.
Azure Moon, best writing. Verdant Wind, complete ending. Crimson Flower, favorite characters (also my first route, so my personal favorite). Silver Snow, exists.
I think it's intersting that you assigned the units specific roles but then judged them on versatility. For example when evaluating the healers you basically said Mercedes is the best healer (which I agree with) but then gave her last place based on her lack of versatility. I know this was a super long video already but it would be interesting to see a version where you judge them based off of how well they fit their assigned roles rather than how well they can be stretched outside of these roles.
This may be your magnum opus, milord.
I’m a Golden Deer for life💛, but Dimitri has the best arc of almost any Fire Emblem lord in my opinion💙.
One thing I believe that doesn't get talked about enough in CF, which is also my most enjoyable part of this game, is that people are PISSED that Byleth joins the Empire. So many characters are mad at them for that. And I love it.
However, this also adds an annoying part where you recruit others from different houses to be in the Black Eagles when they have no legit reason to be there. Most of the Blue Lions fall into this. Mercedes and Sylvan have some legit reasons to join Edelgard's cause. But even then, it's really pushing it. It is really funny when the former blue lions get called out by the remaining ones and the former doesn't give a legit answer. It's "I'm following the Professor where ever they go!", who is following Edelgard.... 😅
Yay it's why I purfer the recruitment in Hopes as they lower down the amount if units that can switch sides and make ut more logical
ranking the units combat wise was such a mess... the magic stat and spellcasts of the lords dont really matter when the lords are never going down a magic route, edelgard has ragin storm to sweep maps, dimitri has batt vantage/wrath to also sweep maps in enemy phase, and claude is a low investment battwrather who gets into the good classes without much trouble
continued on... and just man.... just try playing maddening for once please
also, what do you mean by the kingdom having less battalions than golden deer? do you think only those with an auth boon can carry battalions???
@@idkdk569 Unless you've been grinding Agarthium, 1-turning every Part 2 CF map isn't as effortless as you think it is, and Raging Storm despite its Mt boost is still going to be often weaker than following up normally, let alone a Brave Axe.
"continued on... and just man.... just try playing maddening for once please"
I streamed Azure Moon Maddening over on Twitch, I have experience with the mode.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 chapter 16 of CF gives you 5 of cornelia's golems, each of them drop 5 agarthiums, that's 25 of the material, and you only need 3 agarthium to repair aymr
you dont need to 1-turn, but raging memes remove all difficulty in part 2, in CF 14, the biggest issue is the reinforcement, and you can just the units sending them with edelgard turn 1
@@idkdk569 The amount of ore monsters drop is random, and that's still 4 more chapters before hand, which you can't use until after you've beaten her map
G o l d e n D e e r
Ngl tho, i'm partial to silver snow too bc seteth gets more screen time, tho having to pick black eagles makes me not want to do it bc i'm a deer through and through
That’s the golden deer for ya!
I have the same "objective" ordered ranking of all the routes as BlazingKnight AND the same personal favorite? NOWAYING
What are the odds.
There really ought have been a little more variation of chapters even in White Clouds, which literally forces you until Chapter 11 (on the Black Eagles’ path) to do everything the same; had I been asked, I would have adjusted things. For starters, Flayn’s kidnapping should have been the final week of a month *only* and thus made more urgent; this would have given us an additional chapter due to either the 5th or 6th month in the game having two fights (again, have one in the second-last week of it)… And from there, change how Jeralt dies for the love of all good in this world; that way you could overhaul those two (including making one route where you don’t fuse with Sothis) and still have the last two WC mostly the same afterwards…
Then on every non-CF route, Ch13-16 are the same *again*, which feels like lazy game design even if 3H wasn’t an infamous time sink of a game. With… differences to different degrees after this; I definitely think that SS should either have done BOTEAL in some way, or something to replace it, maybe even rescuing Rhea earlier and throwing the second half into upheaval.
And with the exception of AM, all of them should have had at least one more recruitable character: CF ought to have had Fleche *because why isn’t she our Cyril/Flayn* and maybe Ladislava and/or Randolph; SS needed Rhea, and VW should have made Judith and/or Nader… and if they had implemented my WC changes, I might have spared Kronya to make her playable later (am I insane? Probably, but eh… I would have changed Jeralt’s death so it might be more feasible; the chapter he died was terrible anyway and could have been overhauled).
I have more but I’d go off on things I think so I’ll stop there…
Hes alive? About damn time
storywise id chose golden deer route.
gameplaywise id chose blue lions for the MAIN reason you get the dancer gambit. IMO one of the top gambits in the game..
Oh yeah that dancer gambit is crazy good.
Not that it makes a huge difference but the lords do get unique personal skills, at least after the time skip. Claude gets pass, Dimitri gets avoid 20+ when at full HP, and Edelgard gets Res +4 when she waits. Not a huge deal, but I feel clumping them all together as equal is slightly inaccurate, since Claude’s skill is very easy to take advantage of (especially since he’s a flyer, he can basically go anywhere) while the other two are much more situational
Thanks very much for the heads up.
“And substitutes one of the best final battles in the series with a level so bad it gave one of my friends night terrors…”
Oh hey Fera. You still alive bro? 😂💀
But yeah very splendid video! Incredibly thorough, lots of laughs, and just puts a big smile on my face given this is one of my favorite video games of all time. Amazing job my guy! Keep up the hard work! ❤️
Thank you very much and hopefully Fera's still alive after the PTSD flashbacks lol
Yeah he’s not the only one dealing with PTSD from Silver Snow Endgame, I can relate with him (SS Endgame does that to people)
Azure Moon was my first route
So its my personal favourite
Crimson Flower is my clear favourite but I do think there are plenty of good reasons to recommend the other routes too (well perhaps a bit trickier for Silver Snow...)
I rlly prefer the verdant winds with claudes leadership, it keeps me engaged in the story and i adore it
Claude's arc is really good stuff, subtle but very effective.
Silver Snow cause I want to see Rhea happy.
Happy Rhea is a lovely ending.
In golden deer, cornelia is still out and about but twsd is destroyed completely. In Blue Lions, most of the leaders of twsd is destroyed and fodlan is most likely more unified than they were in golden deer. Black eagles basically razed everyone to the ground, twsd is still in good shape (minus cornelia) and the secret war between them and the empire isn’t stated as a win or a lost.
Blue lions may have the best ending when it comes to fodlan’s future. Twsd’s leaders are dead, cornelia dead, the empire stopped, and the remnants of Twsd are unlikely to be able to revive nemesis without the help of the leaders considering what was said in the final battle when you kill Myson where the grunts said they cannot ket everything go to waste even more, meaning that they are in an already terrible condition after their leaders were eliminated. Even lets say, nemesis and his elites get revived, Dmitri and Byleth would put an end to their onslaught much like in golden deer with claude.
Rhea also lives in this timeline to help keep the statues quo of fodlan.
Blazingknight question have you ever considered of doing a ranking on the worlds of fire emblem not level design but the lore and universe of each game
I have thought of something like regarding which era of FE was the best, but that covers a lot things like game quality, sales figures, impact on the series etc.
Honestly, Ive owned Three Houses for years but everytime I start a playthrough I get hit with major choice paralysis ☠️
Not so much in terms of the houses, but more in how I want to play like should I "go in blind" vs hard min-maxing and getting as many units as possible etc.
Tell me about there's so much to consider regardless of house.
Now that was a long video! But as for my responses to your question at the end, I'm gonna give my two cents on the best route from a story perspective and my favorite route.
Best route: Verdant Wind. Despite lacking the emotional highs of the other routes, there is one key factor Verdant Wind does better than the other routes: give a sense of completion. The other routes have lingering storylines or issues that are not addressed in the main story such as the Arianrhod lie and the Agarthans in Crimson Flower, the Agarthans and proper development of fixing Fodlan in Azure Moon, and the lack of basically everything in Silver Snow compared to the other routes. Verdant Wind, however, doesn't have any lingering storylines, and the route gives enough time to addressing Fodlan's issues through ways such as opening the continent's borders and especially revealing the truth to everyone. So Verdant Wind feels complete to me since there are no lingering issues to address, and it is one of two satisfying outcomes for Fodlan for me.
Favorite route: Crimson Flower. Admittedly my favoritism is more so to do with the Black Eagles being my favorite house in the game (plus the best one character wise for me) and one of my favorite teams in fiction. Also helps that I consider Edelgard as possibly the best lord in the franchise unless I ever play the Tellius games and Ike impresses me. Plus, Crimson Flower for me gives one of two best outcomes for Fodlan alongside Verdant Wind (neck to neck to be honest).
It would have been best if Silver Snow was cut from the game so that Konami and Intelligent Systems would have extra time to work on it and release it as a DLC route
I don’t think players would have taken issue with this because Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude were marketed as the main leads outsides of Byleth so it’s not like most fans would expect a route dedicated to Rhea at launch
Didn't watch the video but even after 5 years its still Azure moon. Just by far the best told story with by far the best character development of the cast.
Phenomenal Video Mate!
For Me: GD is my favorite way to play this game. Love the cast & the world given to me there & I feel like has the best ending.
AM has a great story & I love Dimitri’s arc.
Sadly has even tho 3H might be my favorite FE…I can’t get into BE & SW due to the leaders giving me angerism or not giving me to latch onto.
& in the case of BE feeling like it just stops while SW having great ideas feels too far & too little.
As for my best boys & girls:
Ferdie, Bernie, Dimitri, Annie, Mercie, Raphael, Marianne, Constance, & my tops being Claude, Yuri, Nuke Queen Lysithea & Fish Goddess Flayn makes me smile brightly.
This thumbnail is amazing!
It’s so weird to see you rate Mercedes last in terms of healers. She is the only unit in the game to have both Fortify AND physic. Plus her crest allows her to use both more times than usual.
That's very true in term of pure healing she's the best, but there's more to being a medic than just healing allies, after all additional utility spells and other factors have to also be considered.
@@BLAZINGKNIGHT50 Very true, she gets criticism for not having Warp. Warp definitely has its uses, but from what I've seen, most people only use warp to skip most of the map and end it early, which just isn't how I enjoy playing Fire Emblem. So it never bothered me that she didn't have warp. I always like to make Mercedes a dark flier, since having a healer who can travel great distances with ease was always super helpful. Plus her relic takes away vulnerability to arrows.
@@Flareboxx She suits dark flier very well, and I really enjoy going Valkyrie Mercedes so she can attack from a safe distance.
Cool video. I hope you can do a Moke the Emblem video featuring characters from Engage.
good stuff, my good sir
Thank you very much.
57:22
Forgot to mention how Rhea AND all her dragon pals have Miracle. With Rhea hitting 51 Luck to make your life absolutely miserable. If someone hated Silver Snow solely for this map, I don’t blame them.
Editing is really good, visuals are very helpful- but after the seventh "joke followed by character mentioned saying their voice line loudly" it got a little grating. : (
That aside, everything else about the video is top notch. By far the most comprehensive comparison of the 3 1/4 routes I've ever watched!
Thanks very much for the feedback.
3:26 Personally, i think Awakening should be about on the same level as Shadow Dragon in terms of script, with Echoes being around the level of Sacred Stones.
1. Verdant Wind
2. Azure Moon
*GAP*
3. Silver Snow
*GAP*
4. Crimson Flower
Flip the list around and replace Azure moon with ss and I'd agree
I'd argue thay Bernie can take the role of High DPS with the use of the Vengeance combat art + her great personal skill. certainly puts her above Ignatz at least and can go toe to toe with Petra/Edelgard/Dimitri/Felix dmg wise