Fire Emblem Three Hopes: Not Angry, Just Disappointed
Spin-off games are always kind of in a weird spot, as they’re made mostly for people who are already big fans of the original rather than just being their own thing. I am a huge fan of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, so I am absolutely in that category for Three Hopes, and I was really looking forward to it. But having now beaten it, it didn’t manage to live up to that excitement. This isn’t even about the gameplay, as yes, it’s very different than the original, but the gameplay was never the main draw of Three Houses to begin with. It’s the characters and the setting which have made it stand out so much to me.
In fairness, I did still generally enjoy the game. Some of the battles are really cool, especially the final battle on Edelgard’s route. Also, the route with Edelgard had more of direct conflict with Those Who Slither in the Dark, and the clandestine organization was much more present throughout, which was cool to see. Many of the new things that Three Hopes added were where the game was strongest: new supports between characters who previously had none (I loved the Marianne and Bernadetta conversations, and it did feel like something that had been missing in Three Houses), or entirely new characters (see: Monica). But even there, it wasn’t perfect. Shez, the protagonist, is just okay as a character, and never really grabbed me in the way the Three Houses cast did; and Count Varley’s role was a particular point of distaste for me. In Three Houses, he’s an entirely off-screen character, only mentioned in Bernie’s supports. Literally all you know about him is that he is a horribly abusive father, and in Three Hopes, that’s kind of downplayed. Like, he’s shown as sniveling and pathetic, but Bernie’s encouraged to get along with him, and you have several missions trying to protect him. I personally think he should have gotten the same treatment as Ferdinand and Hubert’s fathers, but alas.
Other than that, there really isn’t much going for it. The characters feel mostly like imitations of themselves, as they’re never given the same opportunity to come to life as they were in Three Houses. You don’t see them grow, and you certainly aren’t a part of said growth. It was neat to encounter them, but it felt like a missed opportunity. How would Marianne grow without Byleth’s support? Would Edelgard feel just as alone as she had before Byleth sides with her? In fact, how would Byleth interact with any of these different versions of the characters, meeting them all in a much different stage of their lives? You never find out any of those. Marianne seems happier, but you never see how she got there; you don’t learn as much about Edelgard’s self beyond how she projects as the Emperor; and Byleth has barely any supports at all. And those are just three examples. The game is filled with more such cases.
What’s more is that the game’s story feels incomplete at times. You never really get closure on the mysteries of Arval and how they relate to Those Who Slither, or how Shez came to be joined with them in the first place. And after the final battle, you get a post script about how Edelgard is preparing for a final battle against the Kingdom. And then credits roll. It really feels like they deliberately left space for paid DLC, which is never a great feeling, especially after I spent $80 on a game which is already itself supposed to be delving into things that went unexplored in another game. Will I buy that DLC? Okay, yeah, maybe, given how deep I am into these characters/this world. But also, they still could have found a resolution in the base game AND had DLC.
It’s frustrating. This game had a ton of opportunities to be really cool and good, and instead, played it very safe. If you want a further exploration of the characters and setting, honestly, just read fanfic.