Enjoying video games is hard when you’re an adult with a job. Free time becomes a scarce and sacred resource, and so naturally we become much more selective about what games we play. As much as I want to clear my backlog of From Software games, it’s a little hard to unwind after a long day by playing… Bloodborne. Sometimes I want something mindless, which is why I tend to rack up hours in sims like Planet Coaster, Two Point Hospital and The Sims 3.
But sometimes sims aren’t enough. Sometimes, a little more substance is needed. A good story, challenging combat and… 50+ hours to beat?!
No – nothing scares me off a game faster now than dipping into How Long to Beat and seeing this:
Which is why I was hesitant to pick up Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I had a suspicion that this game would only hold me over for a few hours before I decided it was a fine game, but not worth the time sink.
45 hours later, I’m still playing with no sign of slowing down, and there’s one reason:
Fire Emblem: Three Houses streamlines the typical JRPG experience to make meaningful use of my time. It trims the fat off every component of the game, leading to a defined adventure that feels fun and focused.
A Little Dramatic, Don’t You Think?
Playing as a mercenary-turned-professor, the students you teach at Garreg Mach monastery are important young people indeed: future Kings, heirs of Dukes, successors to powerful Lords and Ladies. This sees us swept into a story that grows larger with each passing season, continuously developing but told simply. Main story progression happens at the end of every month, with a few cut-scenes and a game play battle. It’s a little formulaic at times but is sustained by the variety of characters. You will have the opportunity to select which house you want to lead, and while they all seem pretty solid, I went with the Blue Lion house and am more than happy with my choice. The cast of characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses are unique and likeable, without overstaying their welcome. There is the opportunity to bond with them through extra curricular activities and side quests, however unlike other games of this ilk, finding out the true nature of each character is really up to whether you care enough to find out. I couldn’t help but compare this to Persona 4 while I was playing – I love the characters in Persona 4 (Kanji and Yosuke have a very special place in my heart) but they are excessive in every sense, from the way their lines are written and read with the most dramatic of expression to the constant repetition of their feeling and motivation. Although I recognise this as a conscious choice very much in keeping with P4’s style, it doesn’t stop it from becoming a little annoying after 30 hours of hearing the shrill tones of Chie shrieking about something for the hundredth time. Fire Emblem: Three Houses isn’t immune from getting pretty corny, and its overall story definitely doesn’t hold a candle to Persona 4’s as far as originality goes, but it is a little more subdued. We learn about characters over the course of the game and are allowed to draw our own conclusions about their backstories through brief but affecting dialogue. Sure, it’s a bit strange to see a major character die and for there to only be one or two lines of reaction, but I much prefer this to an over-the-top 10 minute cutscene that practically begs me to feel sad.
What Really Grinds My Gears
In the way Three Houses doesn’t dwell on its emotional scenes, it also keeps battles and experience gains succinct. I hate grinding for XP (is that controversial? I think half of the people I hear talk about JRPGs are with me, and the other half consider a game ‘too easy’ if they can finish a game without any grinding). It was grinding that made me drop Octopath Traveller after 10 hours when I realised that not only did I not enjoy grinding, but I somehow wasn’t very good at it when I did try, and when the reward for making progress is long, lacklusture, horrifically voice acted cutscenes, I’m officially checked out (yes, we are still discussing Octopath here). Three Houses does a terrific job of making you feel a sense of genuine progress with each battle. Improving my underleveled students was occasionally difficult, but so rewarding once they finally leveled up and learned that new bit of magic or skill that would give me an edge in my next story battle. It is so difficult to create a feeling of accomplishment in video games, to maintain the balance between challenging and gruelling, but Three Houses does this beautifully by allowing players to strategically plan battles based on their team’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses, but also always giving the player a fair chance when things aren’t going well to turn the tides through:
a. the (story-related) ability to rewind time and
b. powerful weapons that are very cool visually (but kept in check from being OP via weapon degradation).
It’s a Small World After All
I love an open world. It’s a big selling point for a lot of gamers, and developers know this. It’s led to a frankly over-saturation of games with giant maps and nothing in them.
Xenoblade Chronicles had me goggling at its beautiful settings and expansive areas to explore for about 5 hours before I realised how bored I was exploring the world because there wasn’t actually all that much in it. I need more than just pretty things to look at – I want pretty things to interact with! Isn’t that the whole allure of video games? The act of play – to step into a new world and do things I wouldn’t normally do? Surface level fetch quests that feel like meaningless chores do not scratch that itch.
How does Fire Emblem:Three Houses counter this? For starters, it doesn’t have an open world. Horrible I know, but the single open area it does have, the monastery where our (probably under qualified) player character teaches and cohabits with students and fellow professors, has just enough in it to keep me going. There are plenty of entertaining characters to talk to and learn more about, a fishing mini game, short eating/cooking scenes and, my absolute favourite – afternoon tea with the other characters. And all of this is optional, but for the majority of the game, I found myself wanting to do these very brief activities, either out of a desire to make my team stronger or just to see the various interactions I could have with my favourite characters, whether it’s the womanizing Sylvain or the drunken escapades of Professor Manuella, there was always something fun to do. And toward the end of the story, when I felt ready for things to wrap up, there was the option to have a ‘rest’ day (which restores weapon durability and increases student motivation) or even a ‘seminar’ option if I didn’t want to miss out on skill boosts for that week. Increasing relationships with characters isn’t particularly lengthy or difficult, as even a quick meal with them or giving a gift is enough to increase the relationship, keeping interactions short and sweet.
Verdict
I’ve almost finished Fire Emblem: Three Houses but it’s never felt like I was dragging my feet to complete the game, and I’m very tempted to go back and replay from the perspective of one of the other two houses. It’s the first time in a while that a title of this length hasn’t left me spent of my initial interest in the game, and I can’t help but wish other developers would take a leaf out of Intelligent System’s book and realise the value of keeping content simple without sacrificing quality or fun.
8.5/10
Do you have any recommendations for more games like this? Did I accidentally insult your favourite game at some point above? Give me an earful in the comments below!
