Sometimes, there's no better thrill than that of being lost. It's why I love those moments at the start of a big open world adventure when you set your first feet out in the wilds and see how far they stretch. After about a dozen hours with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, there's much that same sensation, only this time it's a giddiness that comes when you see how far its systems spread, how deep it runs and how bloody much of it there is. It's apt that much of Three Houses takes place within the classrooms and courtyards of an academy; running around its labyrinth corridors and getting up to speed with everything that makes this particular Fire Emblem tick feels as dizzying and exciting as the first day at a new school.
It's easy to think of the new framing and backdrop for this new Fire Emblem - you're a mercenary who finds themselves teaching at an academy, choosing one of three houses and raising your own small army of students - as a straight lift from Persona and some influence from the series' 2016 crossover with Shin Megami Tensei, though developer Intelligent Systems themselves would point you towards 1996's Genealogy of the Holy War which employed a similar set-up. The rhythm is certainly familiar; your time in-game is marked out by a calendar, with the weekdays filled with lectures and activities as you work to bolster your team's abilities and work on their all-important bonds, as well as exploring the sizable campus itself.
If you've been concerned about Fire Emblem's move towards wordiness over the years, be warned. There's a lot of dialogue, of talking to your students and offering counsel and micro-managing your calendar in order to push the right progression bars up. But there's refinement here, as well as some welcome change; a lot of the anime excesses of Fates appear to have been toned down, and while it's not exactly clear of moments of shrieking hysteria and the occasional questionable outfit, it feels like 2017's remake of the 1992 Famicom entry Gaiden helped put Intelligent Systems back in touch with the foundations of the series. There's a greater sense of agency as you explore the academy and fulfill requests, and a good sense of character too thanks to some delightful writing that injects some spark into student interactions.
from Eurogamer.net
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