Just Finished the Golden Deer Route. Have to Get my Thoughts Out (Part 1)

Disclaimer: I tried posting this about a week ago, but I couldn't because it was too long. So I'm going to split it into 4 different posts. Also, I originally wrote this before the difficulty dropped, so it might be a bit outdated.

Ok, so this is my first playthrough of 3H. I've been patiently waiting to play this game ever since they first teased it back during that FE direct in 2017 (the first time they lied about the release date), and I was anxiously hoping the game would be worth the wait. And I can confidently say it definitely was. I had the time of my life playing this game the past month. Although this game definitely is not without its flaws. This is gonna be a long post, so I'm gonna try to organize it to make it easy to follow.

Yeah this isn't my first FE game; it's actually my fifth. I liked all the other games I've played (chronologically FE7 --> Sacred Stones --> Echoes --> Awakening), but I definitely liked some more than others. After playing all those games, I feel that the most important things a FE game needs to nail (for my tastes anyway) are gameplay > characters > story > presentation in that order. I honestly would still really like an FE game with a bad story as long as its characters are great, but I probably wouldn't like an FE game with a good story and characters if its gameplay is sub-par or vice-versa. So I'm going to try to organize my thoughts on the 3H GD track based on those 4 factors, and what I liked and disliked about them. This post will be about gameplay.

Gameplay

I like

• how much the gameplay in 3H is inspired by Echoes. I had a lot of fun playing Echoes, and the unconventional style of that game just made me crave more FE games that diverged from the norm. I certainly enjoyed the return of the turnwheel. The way they implemented the magic system from Echoes into this game is pretty logical. I always thought the whole "I rip out a page of this tome whenever I use a spell, and this tome only has 45 pages" or whatever it was made no sense. Magic is meant to be different from physical weapons, so it makes sense that it is depleted differently too. I think it still needs a bit more tweaking to be considered prefect, but it was definitely great for the purpose it served in this game. The way they implemented weapon arts in 3H is also pretty logical: This time, instead of the art hurting yourself when you use it, it depletes your weapon durability more quickly. Makes sense, and sets up for a good resource-managing challenge. Speaking of which,
• the monastery. I remember being pessimistic when they first showed it in that Nintendo Direct, thinking it would be another one of those between map grinding shticks recent FE games loved to do. Not at all. This went above and beyond my expectations. Before the time-skip, the monastery was great because of how overwhelming and open it felt, and how many events happened in it. I'll be honest, I felt proud of myself when I correctly guessed that the assailants were going to attack the mausoleum based on the context clues they gave me. I mean, yeah, it wasn't very hard to figure out, but they didn't exactly make it obvious either. It felt like I was playing an Ace Attorney game for a short while, and that's something I totally wasn't expecting out of 3H. After the time-skip, the monastery was basically a tool the player would use to manage limited resources. I LOVE this so much. I always felt that linear FE was superior to non-linear FE, but jumping straight from map to map without anything in between does somewhat leave me wanting more. This was such a good way to make the game feel more open, but also retain the limited resource management you could only get from a game with a linear setup. And it was organized from the ground up so well too. The way side-quests are handled, as well as the way you interact with students and build up support/motivation. Not to mention all the items that are limited for exclusive use in the monastery. Even fishing was fun, and a totally welcome mechanic.
• the map design. This was such a step up from literally every FE game I've played up till this point. Almost every single map felt different, and each was memorable for different reasons. And even though for the most part the main objectives are always just "defeat the commander(s)", there's always other lesser objectives contained within the map that add to the fun and keep everything feeling fresh. Remember the maps where the fog clears if you find the mage causing it? Fun. The one where you weren't allowed to let the bandits spend more than 5 scattered turns within the town? Fun. (and also a bit challenging, those wyvern riders really put up a fight) The one where you literally had to race the Death Knight to the edge of the fort? Fun. (and I'd imagine way harder once the higher difficulties release). The one right after the timeskip where all the kiddos show up one by one on different turns? Fun, and it got a squeal out of me. And there were a number of maps where a surprise second or third boss showed up halfway into the battle to add another objective to the list. This actually gave more value to the turnwheel, as there are some maps that you just kinda have to trial and error. Don't even get me started on the two Gronder battles. Those were truly spectacular. And the inclusion of a second enemy phase presented another layer of challenge, which was great too. It was really cool seeing 3 sides duking it out in a big battle royale, and it kind of served as a tactical double edged sword. On the one hand, it was a crutch to lean on if you were in a pickle against a specific foe, but on the other hand, it wasn't wise to abuse it because of how much exp you could lose. Personally, I actually took advantage of Edelgard lighting the hill on fire to get some free damage in on Dimitri. And dare I say, the "kill every last one of them" approach I usually employ in FE games didn't always work in 3H because the green allies actually cleaned up quite a bit. Seriously, Nader and Dedue were monsters. And the inclusion of gambits and monsters with multi-tile constitution added yet another layer to the strategies. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but it was pretty easy to experiment with in the long run, and it wound up being a welcome inclusion overall. And as a tie-in to my first point, many of the fun strats from Echoes were pretty reliable here too. Operation warp and rescue, hit and run strats with combat arts, subdue to babysit, sniping with archers and wide range magic, silencing, enclosing, etc. It just all fit together so well and made for a fun multilayered tactical experience.
• unit building. Another welcome addition. I think it's obvious that the main difference between the gameplay in main series FE games vs. FE Heroes is that the majority of your time planning in the main series games is spent in the actual maps, whereas in Heroes it's in building the units. 3H meets in the middle. Between items, combat arts, abilities, battalions, adjutants, and class access, a lot of prep goes into each unit before each battle. And yes, it can be pretty overwhelming. But I'm a complicated guy, so I definitely approve of the complicated preps. It adds yet another layer to the gameplay. And at least it doesn't give Yugioh card descriptions to every weapon and ability like FEH does. And I thought the class up system was great as well. I loved the objective of mastering a class to get a new rare skill. I'll be taking more advantage of that on my second playthrough. I also like how every unit can use every weapon at any point in time. Yes, it seemed a bit too open at first, but given the objective of focusing on each unit's strengths and the encouragement each class had towards specific weapons, it worked. It parallels pretty well to real life as well. If you're a master lancer, it doesn't mean you can't use a bow; you're just not as good with one. Definitely fit in with the school concept.
• the instructing mechanic. A genius way to incorporate the role of a professor into an FE game. When I got to this part for the first time, I thought to myself, "boy they really went ahead and RPG-ified the entire role of a teacher didn't they?" I'm surprised at just how thorough everything here is. Once you get past the overwhelming feel of it, you realize just how useful it is. Direct control over each unit's mastery in each field gives you direct control of the arts and abilities they have, as well as which weapons they get access to. And the budding talent thing is cool too. Motivation gauges and activity points for teaching make this just as much a valuable limited resource as everything in the monastery. Also cool that it built up support points.
• gauntlets. New weapon type, new effect, didn't feel redundant at all. Player phase brave effect on all gauntlets is kind of OP, but there weren't as many different types of gauntlets as there were the other weapon types, and mounted units had to dismount before they could use them, so I think it all balanced out in the end.

I dislike

• the tedious feel to it all. Towards the end of my playthrough I did a lot of auto-instructing. I just wanted to get back into the battles and story progression as quickly as I could. All the monastery and teaching stuff throughout the month just started to feel like a chore. I didn't even do the last month; just skipped straight to Nemesis and didn't care if I was under-prepared. I think the reason for this was just how static the monastery feels after the time skip. There was nothing to look forward to all month every month except for the dialogue at the beginning and the mission at the end. Monastery was just a total chore when there were no more investigations or events. Not to mention how many times I keep fooling myself into thinking I didn't unlock all the places in the monastery, but then ran around looking for the quests that unlock them when it turns out there are none. Why is that sauna inaccessible?
• how vague the game can be sometimes. I had to Google things like how to change to the dancer class and how to activate Assassinate because the game never explained them properly. Not to mention the confusing way the secondary effect on Thyrsus was described. Some of the map objectives were a bit confusing too.
• this game's weird difficulty spike. All the maps before the timeskip felt almost too easy (Edelgard got crit on and almost lost all her HP to a nameless ally unit in the last map) but then the difficulty shot up abruptly once we hit post timeskip (almost exhausted all my turnwheel spins for the first time ever in the first map with all those bandits). Played on Hard Classic btw.
• the class system. I know I was just praising it, but there are still some things about it I think could've been handled better. We were lacking things like an armored mage, a flying mage, an armored flier, someone proficient with both gauntlets and bows, etc. Overall, the Master class was a bit tough to juggle because they didn't all have logical lead ins, and some Advanced classes felt like they were just left hanging. I didn't bother trying to make all my units Master classes, just most of them.
• the way the weapon triangle was handled. I think a better way to handle it would've been to make make it permanent breaker skills, but to make them unlockable, and to put a limit on how many each unit can access. For example, if a unit reaches B mastery in swords, he unlocks axe-breaker and keeps it forever; it doesn't take up an ability slot. But he'd only be allowed to unlock up to 2 more breaker skills, so you'd have to choose wisely which weapons he gets to master. Or something like that. Or maybe not, idk. I'm not a professional RPG developer or anything.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know what you think.

Part 2 will be about characters.

Submitted September 15, 2019 at 10:19PM by ScepterReptile https://ift.tt/2ZZqiKM