Next Famitsu preview (personal skills and crests)

[The DanMan]

4 hours ago, eclipse said:

Three Houses, on the other hand, reminds me more of the least-enjoyable parts of Trails of Cold Steel.  I don't think I've been this apprehensive about a FE game release, ever.

Intriguing seeing a mod so down on the game. Especially when there's still so much else to the game other than the school.

2 hours ago, Etheus said:

Do we know if there will be any more Famitsu previews?

I'd say there'll be one every week or two-- the game is a bit over two months out and there's still tons to be covered that can't only be done in trailers.

Edited May 16, 2019 by The DanMan

[Fabulously Olivier]

21 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

Intriguing seeing a mod so down on the game.

I'd say there'll be one every week or two-- the game is a bit over two months out and there's still tons to be covered that can't only be done in trailers.

It makes sense to me. The most controversial Fire Emblems (ie: Fates, Radiant Dawn, Geneology) tend to be the ones with the most ambitious scope. And Three Houses is both the most ambitious game yet and one with a lot of experimental mechanics. This could be the greatest game yet, or it could be a victim of extreme scope creep.

 

I would expect emotions ranging from apprehension to cautious optimism to be the natural ones here.

 

I know I have mixed feelings. I'm very excited for it (more than I've ever been for a Fire Emblem). I have vacation set aside for it. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Etheus

[The DanMan]

11 minutes ago, Etheus said:

It makes sense to me. The most controversial Fire Emblems (ie: Fates, Radiant Dawn, Geneology) tend to be the ones with the most ambitious scope. And Three Houses is both the most ambitious game yet and one with a lot of experimental mechanics. This could be the greatest game yet, or it could be a victim of extreme scope creep.

 

I would expect emotions ranging from apprehension to cautious optimism to be the natural ones here.

 

I know I have mixed feelings. I'm very excited for it (more than I've ever been for a Fire Emblem). I have vacation set aside for it. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous.

Having some caution over things is one thing, but comparing everything shown so far to the "worst parts" of another game feels kinda shallow.

[colossus86]

This game reminds me so much of Valkyria Chronicles 2, the parallels are uncanny. VC is a franchise that focuses on war stories (much like FE) but VC2 was situated around a military academy and the playable cast are a bunch of recruits in training who, due to circumstances, are forced to fight in real combat against rebels in between their studies and training exercises. One of my biggest issues with the game (which I still do like on the whole btw) is the jarring tonal inconsistency from the dumb Anime Academy bullshit and the horrors of a serious war story.

Now I love anime, but VC2 is, mostly, bad anime and that's my issue. In between fighting the rebels who are slaughtering a minority people and destabilizing the nation as a whole, you have to: (ok these examples are technically optional, but since completing them gives the related unit a permanent buff, not doing them is objectively a bad decision from a game play standpoint)

1. Help a girl find a flower for a boy she likes... in the middle of a sandstorm... while there are enemy forces around

2. Help a stalker (a girl in your unit) fight off the fan club of the guy she likes to stalk

3. Other dumb shit I don't care to recall

Everything in the monastery seems so tame and inane that I don't really see how it won't clash with the serious plot (assuming there is one). Also I don't see how the calendar system works with a reasonably paced plot. Like does only 1 important thing happen a month? That's more or less how much of VC2 went and at times I would legit forget what happened in the last story mission when a new one comes up since there's so much forced playtime in between. Speaking of that:

The forced downtime between missions in VC2 wasn't too much of an issue as, once you know what you're doing you can do all up your upgrading class changing and prep in like 2-3 minutes. The interface helped out a great deal here as it wasn't an open world, just basically a loose menu with locations that you can "go" to instantly to handle your business and talk to people. Now we don't know how difficult it will be to navigate the monastery, but what we've seen so far seems like you could be spending a ton of downtime micro managing your students in between proper chapters. And its one thing to be moving sliders, assigning exp and promoting people as necessary... But why the hell do I have to watch a scene of two students pulling up weeds in order to get them closer to promoting to Armor Knight. Why do I have to talk to some kid about his girl issues in order to get gold and exp. Its one thing to put inane Anime Academy bullshit in your game, but linking that stuff to central game mechanics in a way that makes them somewhere from optimal to mandatory isn't a design philosophy I can get behind.

All that being said, VC2 isn't a game I hate on the whole, and I'd even give it a tenuous recommendation. But I remember it as a game that I could enjoy the core of... but disliked literally everything else about it. And I see that as a possible scenario for Three Houses. I am legitimately excited for the potential of the new class system, battalions, and gambits. But between my dislike of most of the games visuals/ascetics, my lack of confidence in IS to deliver from a story standpoint, and my fear I'll have to do dozens of tasks between every map to play the game anywhere close to optimally, I can't help but wonder what percentage of my time will be spent having fun, and how much will be waiting until I can get to the fun parts.

[eclipse]

5 hours ago, The DanMan said:

Intriguing seeing a mod so down on the game. Especially when there's still so much else to the game other than the school.

The focus is on the school right now.  I don't like school settings in general.  Thus, a little bit of logic says that this reaction from me is natural.  I may be a mod, but I'm also a person, with likes and dislikes.  Video game schools as a main setting just so happens to be one of my dislikes.

Perhaps I'll feel better when the focus shifts to other things.  Or perhaps not.  Only time will tell.

[Sentinel07]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:50 PM, Lord_Grima said:

  Hide contents

I'm working on compiling the Crests and their owners on the Seiros Mural to give an organized way to view everything. This is what I have so far. (There is one crest marked yellow without a name, because it was found on the Leicester Flag/Banner).

 

Also, if Crests are supposed to be passed down via bloodlines, then does that mean that Byleth is a descendant of this King Nemesis character? Or is Nemesis related to Sothis?

I know Felix, Lorenz, and Hilda were revealed to have Crests but where was it shown which crest symbols they had specifically? Just trying to see if I missed something.

[egobarrier]

53 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

I know Felix, Lorenz, and Hilda were revealed to have Crests but where was it shown which crest symbols they had specifically? Just trying to see if I missed something.

In the printed version of the Famitsu article, page 2. https://nintendoeverything.com/scans-roundup-fire-emblem-three-houses-yo-kai-watch-4-more/

[Cysx]

Has the bottom part of this been looked at? The image isn't on the site and while I can find the text on the top in the web article(most of it anyway), the text on its side doesn't seem to be in there.
Also shows that Felix's damage goes from 12 to 17 with the crest, so a basic +5 damage might be it's main/sole effect? It shouldn't be from Felix's personal skill(+5 damage when you don't have troops), since... well he does have troops.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Cysx

[Harvey]

If I am to be very honest here, I am having a hard time getting hyped about this game. Its not just the artstyle but rather how it just doesn't feel like a fire emblem game one bit. Teachers? Students? A school setting? Fire Emblem is a game about characters and deals with their backstories. 

Ok, I can understand that if they want to do this, they can...but why butcher the gameplay even further? Most of the classic classes are removed, we still have no clue as to what objectives we are to get here and on top of that, this looks like there won't be support conversations whatsoever....not waifu...support conversations.

But on the other hand...this can be a good thing for FE as a whole. If a game like this can work, then maybe we can see IS going further with the brand.

If it fails though, then they might look at it and do it the way the series is meant to be stuck with.

[VincentASM]

51 minutes ago, Harvey said:

If I am to be very honest here, I am having a hard time getting hyped about this game. Its not just the artstyle but rather how it just doesn't feel like a fire emblem game one bit. Teachers? Students? A school setting? Fire Emblem is a game about characters and deals with their backstories. 

Ok, I can understand that if they want to do this, they can...but why butcher the gameplay even further? Most of the classic classes are removed, we still have no clue as to what objectives we are to get here and on top of that, this looks like there won't be support conversations whatsoever....not waifu...support conversations.

But on the other hand...this can be a good thing for FE as a whole. If a game like this can work, then maybe we can see IS going further with the brand.

If it fails though, then they might look at it and do it the way the series is meant to be stuck with.

I can understand being put off by the setting, but I think the other concerns are unfounded at the moment.

Who says you can't delve in backstories in a school setting? Plenty other RPGs set in schools have deep backstories, like Trails of Cold Steel.

I don't see how "most classic classes were removed". We have all the staples so far like Myrmidon, Mage, Fighter, Cavalier and Archer. They've just decided to diversify the class system. Stuff like Pegasus Knights and Armour Knights are missing, but from the professor levels, we can infer they exist.

Also, we don't know if support conversations are gone. In fact, we can see support ranks for Dorothea and Bernadetta. These are currently locked to C and B, implying A and above are tied to story progression. Meaning there are probably conversations attached (as locking ranks for any other reason seems unnecessary).

I think this game is trying to experiment a lot, which I like more than playing things safe. Many of the series's greats messed around with the formula a lot.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

So we gotta likely have to wait to Waifubando the characters this time I guess I can accept that!

[Tamanoir]

So, that's the strangest comparison, but I the school;setting and Edelgard being a more stable Sapphire really makes me think of Disgaea 3.Though that comparison may place my expectations a lttle to high...

Now, my main worry is about having a schedule that is too tight to experiment. If I have to reload every time for perfect score, that may be geting annoying quickly. Otherwise, I am quite curious.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Tamanoir

[User name]

19 minutes ago, Dorothea Joestar Arnold said:

So we gotta likely have to wait to Waifubando the characters this time I guess I can accept that!

Can you imagine the outcry if there is no romancing?

That would be something lol

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

5 hours ago, User name said:

Can you imagine the outcry if there is no romancing?

That would be something lol

Although I very highly doubt that will be the case(no romancing part) it'd be a armageddon in that case scenario.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Dorothea Joestar Arnold

[The DanMan]

8 hours ago, eclipse said:

The focus is on the school right now.  I don't like school settings in general.  Thus, a little bit of logic says that this reaction from me is natural.  I may be a mod, but I'm also a person, with likes and dislikes.  Video game schools as a main setting just so happens to be one of my dislikes.

Perhaps I'll feel better when the focus shifts to other things.  Or perhaps not.  Only time will tell.

The last Famitsu article talked about Skills, Crests, Battalions, and several classes as well as some backstory/worldbuilding. Most of the academy stuff is about managing your units' growth.

Most of the focus is on the main gameplay and unit customization-- just because there's an academy skin over the latter, you're "the most apprehensive you've ever been about a game in the series"?
Again, feels kinda shallow.
 

[Harvey]

3 hours ago, VincentASM said:

I can understand being put off by the setting, but I think the other concerns are unfounded at the moment.

Who says you can't delve in backstories in a school setting? Plenty other RPGs set in schools have deep backstories, like Trails of Cold Steel.

I don't see how "most classic classes were removed". We have all the staples so far like Myrmidon, Mage, Fighter, Cavalier and Archer. They've just decided to diversify the class system. Stuff like Pegasus Knights and Armour Knights are missing, but from the professor levels, we can infer they exist.

Also, we don't know if support conversations are gone. In fact, we can see support ranks for Dorothea and Bernadetta. These are currently locked to C and B, implying A and above are tied to story progression. Meaning there are probably conversations attached (as locking ranks for any other reason seems unnecessary).

I think this game is trying to experiment a lot, which I like more than playing things safe. Many of the series's greats messed around with the formula a lot.

Hey I could be wrong at the end and its like you said that it may end up being good considering that this is IS we're talking about here....but I still don't buy it until the game is out.

I don't know what exactly they can do if the characters are students...what tragic can they possibly do for students besides having lost parents at young age or being transferred? If they can do beyond that, well and good.

I haven't been looking at much news for this game simply because....its just confusing. Only a small fraction of gameplay is shown at the direct and even that wasn't enough to say what it plans out to be. I hope I'm wrong and I hope it ends up being good because that's what we all would want in the end.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

4 hours ago, User name said:

Can you imagine the outcry if there is no romancing?

Not much outcry when it happened last time. The people who were clearly down on it just...quietly left. 

[User name]

5 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

Not much outcry when it happened last time. The people who were clearly down on it just...quietly left. 

By last time i assume you mean Echoes, and it was a reamake of a fairy old game, which had predetermined relationships between characters.

So a remake beeing trueful to its origin is understandable.(I do wish IS could improve its map design)

But yeah you wont see me cry about no romancing.

[Cysx]

10 hours ago, Cysx said:

Has the bottom part of this been looked at? The image isn't on the site and while I can find the text on the top in the web article(most of it anyway), the text on its side doesn't seem to be in there.
Also shows that Felix's damage goes from 12 to 17 with the crest, so a basic +5 damage might be it's main/sole effect? It shouldn't be from Felix's personal skill(+5 damage when you don't have troops), since... well he does have troops.

Okay, the sentence I'm getting at the side of the image is: 紋章を持つ者がバトルに参加するとまれにカが発動しヽ さまざまな効果を与えてくれる

The first part seems to imply that crest activation happens randomly in battle, as opposed to being a combat skill or something. I don't think that was known information, my bad if it was

[Calico]

@Cysx That's a great catch! It sounds like Felix will be really strong if the +5 crest damage stacks with his ability to do +5 when he's deployed without a battalion.  Though if its random, I guess it's not something you can really count on. Also, if we go by screenshots,  Byleth's crest may have the ability to absorb 1/4 of the damage dealt to enemies.

[VincentASM]

57 minutes ago, Cysx said:

Okay, the sentence I'm getting at the side of the image is: 紋章を持つ者がバトルに参加するとまれにカが発動しヽ さまざまな効果を与えてくれる

The first part seems to imply that crest activation happens randomly in battle, as opposed to being a combat skill or something. I don't think that was known information, my bad if it was

I think it would make sense for the crests to randomly trigger, since we're currently lacking skills with random activation rates. Personal, class and professor skills all seem to be passives, although we've only seen a handful of each. Meanwhile Combat Arts are triggered via a menu.

Maybe crests replace the Mastery-type skills like Astra, Luna and Sol. Especially if Byleth's crest has a Sol-like effect.

Also, I find it amusing how the non-minor crests have "Emblem" (in English) above their icon in the printed version of Famitsu. I wonder why the localisation called them crests instead of emblems. Did they think it was too much of a name-drop?

EDIT:

Also, I missed it the first time, but the icon for Byleth's crest in the UI is half of what the crest actually looks like. That seems kind of cool, but out of place since the crest in battle is full. Maybe his/her crest is at half its power? Or maybe he/she only carries half of the real crest?

Edited May 17, 2019 by VincentASM

[User name]

Its worth to note that Felix has a Major crest apparently, and the 3 lords have minor ones,and i think Byleth has a minor too.

So maybe minor crests can evolve into major ones, as the story progress? Kinda how in persona 3 characters personas evolve into ultimate personas after a major story bit.

Edited May 17, 2019 by User name

[Cysx]

17 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

Also, I missed it the first time, but the icon for Byleth's crest in the UI is half of what the crest actually looks like. That seems kind of cool, but out of place since the crest in battle is full. Maybe his/her crest is at half its power? Or maybe he/she only carries half of the real crest?

It looks distorted rather than halved, to me. I assumed it was some fancy visual effect?

Also I initially thought it might be an art because of the name appearing above the attacker's, just like it is for combat arts, but I guess that doesn't really prove anything.

42 minutes ago, Calico said:

@Cysx That's a great catch! It sounds like Felix will be really strong if the +5 crest damage stacks with his ability to do +5 when he's deployed without a battalion.  Though if its random, I guess it's not something you can really count on. Also, if we go by screenshots,  Byleth's crest may have the ability to absorb 1/4 of the damage dealt to enemies.

Yup, that's how it seems. Also I said Felix's was giving him +5, but looking at it again, it could be +40% rounded up, or something like that. Otherwise his crest might lose value over time.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Cysx

[BastienSoul]

9 minutes ago, Cysx said:

Yup, that's how it seems. Also I said Felix's was giving him +5, but looking at it again, it could be +40% rounded up, or something like that. Otherwise his crest might lose value over time.

It could also be like Luna or another skill that uses a stat we can't see in combat.

[Azz]

33 minutes ago, User name said:

Its worth to note that Felix has a Major crest apparently, and the 3 lords have minor ones,and i think Byleth has a minor too.

So maybe minor crests can evolve into major ones, as the story progress? Kinda how in persona 3 characters personas evolve into ultimate personas after a major story bit.

My personal theory is that all the people who have minor crests possibly have older siblings/parents who hold the major crests. We do know Hilda has an older brother who possibly has the major crest. This could imply that Felix is an only child or orphan if parents retain major crests even after having kids.

Also Byleth's crest is major