Fire Emblem: What Fates Does Better Than Three Houses
Some Fates and Three Houses spoilers
In this entry, I will compare Fire Emblem: Three Houses with Fire Emblem Fates; the latter was the previous new Fire Emblem (Shadows of Valentia was a remake of Gaiden), which is why Three Houses is most often compared with Fates.
Fates was divisive for many reasons, and I will concede that Three Houses is a better game in most qualities. However, I appreciate many of the things Fates did well, and will highlight those areas in this post.
The choice of allegiance feels more personal
In Three Houses, you will choose which house to teach almost immediately after meeting the three house leaders, and getting a cursory introduction to the rest of the students; talking to the house leader will have that person explain each student's personality and skillsets, while you can walk around Garreg Mach and talk to the students yourself. Unfortunately, there's relatively little information at the time, and less reason to care about the house and students you did not choose.
As for Fates, the prologue and first five chapters help give you an understanding of the war between Hoshido and Nohr, as well as Corrin's adoptive and birth families. For all the legitimate criticisms of Fates' writing, one thing it does well is having characters establish themsleves; for example, Leo subtly hints at his jealousy of Corrin, but when push comes to shove, helps Corrin avoid having to kill defenseless prisoners. If you choose to stay loyal to Hoshido, you naturally have an emotionally charged confrontation with him late in the campaign. By comparison, in Three Houses, the only thing I remembered about Ashe during the final battle on Crimson Flower (my first route) was that he was Lonato's adopted son.
Of course, in practice, you cannot choose the other country if you do not own their game, which is a downside I will discuss again later on. That being said, Fates is a game about making difficult choices, and recognizing that everything that comes of those choices, both good and ill, is your responsibility. This theme is also present in Three Houses, mainly in the Black Eagles route (which splits into Crimson Flower or Silver Snow depending on your choices), but it would have been nice to have had more time to get to know your faction and what was at stake before making a choice, which is part of the reason why the Black Eagles route is my favorite.
The story splits earlier
One unfortunate part about replaying Three Houses' multiple routes is that each time you play through the game, the first half of the route is essentially the same, except for a few minor alterations for the storyline.
Fates, however, has a somewhat shorter pre-split campaign, with only a prologue and five chapters, two of which are essentially tutorials. There is even an option to skip ahead to the "Branch of Fate" on any difficulty that you completed it on.
Both games have valid reasons for splitting when they do, since Three Houses takes longer to build up to the choice, while Fates simply has Corrin realize their true homeland, and be forced to choose one of two sides. In the end, though, it is somewhat easier to replay Fates than Three Houses, so it has the edge in this category.
Fates' routes have their distinct identity.
I will begin by saying that people are absolutely right to complain about having to buy two separate games. That said, Birthright and Conquest split much earlier, as I mentioned before, but also have drastically different gameplay. Birthright, which is tailored to newcomers, allows players to grind for experience if they're having trouble with the missions, and generally features simpler and easier maps. Conquest, however, is a highly difficult path for series veterans. It only allows units to gain experience in the story missions and Paralogues, so you must be careful about who gets the finite amounts of experience. The maps are also more challenging, both in terms of the enemies and the environmental hazards. Revelation is somewhere between the two, featuring complex and elaborate maps, but also the ability to grind (in part to allow you to see all the supports for both routes, as well as the new ones for that path).
As for Three Houses, Silver Snow is practically identical to Verdant Wind with a few exceptions besides your house being Black Eagles, rather than Golden Deer- you skip the battle of Gronder Field and fight a different final boss. Azure Moon, while possibly the best of the non-Crimson Flower routes, is still almost completely identical to Verdant Wind until after Gronder Field. Crimson Flower, has the most unique identity, but still recycles maps from the other routes. As glad as I am that all four routes are included with the game, there is less replay value in those four routes than in Fates' three.
Fates has better maps
One advantage Fates has is the maps. Not only are there more maps to fight on, but the Dragon Veins, which units of royal blood can manipulate, allow for unique mechanics, such as the ability to spring traps on enemies or create new paths for your units.
If you do enough skirmishes or Paralogues in Three Houses, you'll eventually start seeing the same maps repeating themselves. For example, Felix and Sylvain's Paralogues take place in the same city in Faerghus used for Kingdom skirmishes, while Ingrid and Dorothea's Paralogue takes you to Ailell.
In Fates, however, while you will often visit many of the same locations, such as Izumo, across all three paths, many of the common ones have at least two different variants. In Izumo's case, Birthright's variation has you fighting in the desert, with Dragon Veins that make the terrain easier to traverse, while Conquest and Revelations have you fight on a maze of walkways, with the Dragon Veins causing winds to blow units away.
Fates has a better ending
While Three Houses' story is overall better than Fates, I found the ending to be a bit underwhelming, especially given its brevity.
Regardless of which route you pick in Three Houses, the ending has the following elements.
1.An animated cutscene that concludes the final battle.
2.A conversation/marriage proposal between Byleth and whoever s/he S Supported.
3.The list of the MVPs for each mission.
4.All the characters' epilogues, which also reveals who ended up together.
5.The credits. "The Edge of Dawn" plays in every route besides Crimson Flower.
It isn't a bad ending, per se, but it could provide a bit more closure.
Meanwhile, Fates' routes end the following way.
1.The final boss- Dragon Garon(Birthright) Anankos-possessed Takumi(Conquest) or Anankos himself(Reveation)- perishes.
2.Azura's fate: she dies(Birthright), disappears without a trace(Conquest), or survives (Revelation)
3.The victorious nation crowns a new king- Ryoma b(Birthright) or Xander (Conquest). They are visited by the new ruler of their former enemy- Leo (Birthright) or Hinoka (Conquest)- who mourn their losses- Xander and Elise (Birthright) or Ryoma and Takumi (Conquest). Together, they discuss the future with cautious optimism. As for Revelation, Corrin becomes king or queen of Valla, and makes a treaty with Ryoma and Xander.
4.Corrin seeks out Azura one last time.
5.Corrin celebrates with his/her siblings.
6.A list of the MVPs for each mission.
7.The characters' epilogues are shown on the top screen, while the credits are shown on the bottom. "Lost In Thoughts All Alone" plays.
This ending is bittersweet. One can argue that there was no need to make a third route in which all the major characters survive, but that ending also brings an effective close to the story. I would have liked to see more of Three Houses' ending, particularly what your Lord's plans for the future are, as well as some characters' thoughts on the final battle. Perhaps your character could take one final walk around Garreg Mach and talk to everyone who survived the war. Unfortunately, what's done is done, and all I can do is speculate how to improve Three Houses' ending.
The Soundtrack
This was a difficult choice to make, since both games have excellent soundtracks, but I slightly prefer Fates' soundtrack. There is more variety in the battle soundtracks, unlike Three Houses, which most often uses four soundtracks- one for early Part 1, one for late Part 1, one for early Part 2, and one for late Part 2. One thing I liked more about Three Houses' soundtrack, though, is that when you engage a unique enemy, the "boss theme," (for example, Paths That Will Not Cross for a non-recruited unit), plays until that enemy is defeated, with the Thunder variant during battle and the Rain variant outside of battle.
In this entry, I will compare Fire Emblem: Three Houses with Fire Emblem Fates; the latter was the previous new Fire Emblem (Shadows of Valentia was a remake of Gaiden), which is why Three Houses is most often compared with Fates.
Fates was divisive for many reasons, and I will concede that Three Houses is a better game in most qualities. However, I appreciate many of the things Fates did well, and will highlight those areas in this post.
The choice of allegiance feels more personal
In Three Houses, you will choose which house to teach almost immediately after meeting the three house leaders, and getting a cursory introduction to the rest of the students; talking to the house leader will have that person explain each student's personality and skillsets, while you can walk around Garreg Mach and talk to the students yourself. Unfortunately, there's relatively little information at the time, and less reason to care about the house and students you did not choose.
As for Fates, the prologue and first five chapters help give you an understanding of the war between Hoshido and Nohr, as well as Corrin's adoptive and birth families. For all the legitimate criticisms of Fates' writing, one thing it does well is having characters establish themsleves; for example, Leo subtly hints at his jealousy of Corrin, but when push comes to shove, helps Corrin avoid having to kill defenseless prisoners. If you choose to stay loyal to Hoshido, you naturally have an emotionally charged confrontation with him late in the campaign. By comparison, in Three Houses, the only thing I remembered about Ashe during the final battle on Crimson Flower (my first route) was that he was Lonato's adopted son.
Of course, in practice, you cannot choose the other country if you do not own their game, which is a downside I will discuss again later on. That being said, Fates is a game about making difficult choices, and recognizing that everything that comes of those choices, both good and ill, is your responsibility. This theme is also present in Three Houses, mainly in the Black Eagles route (which splits into Crimson Flower or Silver Snow depending on your choices), but it would have been nice to have had more time to get to know your faction and what was at stake before making a choice, which is part of the reason why the Black Eagles route is my favorite.
The story splits earlier
One unfortunate part about replaying Three Houses' multiple routes is that each time you play through the game, the first half of the route is essentially the same, except for a few minor alterations for the storyline.
Fates, however, has a somewhat shorter pre-split campaign, with only a prologue and five chapters, two of which are essentially tutorials. There is even an option to skip ahead to the "Branch of Fate" on any difficulty that you completed it on.
Both games have valid reasons for splitting when they do, since Three Houses takes longer to build up to the choice, while Fates simply has Corrin realize their true homeland, and be forced to choose one of two sides. In the end, though, it is somewhat easier to replay Fates than Three Houses, so it has the edge in this category.
Fates' routes have their distinct identity.
I will begin by saying that people are absolutely right to complain about having to buy two separate games. That said, Birthright and Conquest split much earlier, as I mentioned before, but also have drastically different gameplay. Birthright, which is tailored to newcomers, allows players to grind for experience if they're having trouble with the missions, and generally features simpler and easier maps. Conquest, however, is a highly difficult path for series veterans. It only allows units to gain experience in the story missions and Paralogues, so you must be careful about who gets the finite amounts of experience. The maps are also more challenging, both in terms of the enemies and the environmental hazards. Revelation is somewhere between the two, featuring complex and elaborate maps, but also the ability to grind (in part to allow you to see all the supports for both routes, as well as the new ones for that path).
As for Three Houses, Silver Snow is practically identical to Verdant Wind with a few exceptions besides your house being Black Eagles, rather than Golden Deer- you skip the battle of Gronder Field and fight a different final boss. Azure Moon, while possibly the best of the non-Crimson Flower routes, is still almost completely identical to Verdant Wind until after Gronder Field. Crimson Flower, has the most unique identity, but still recycles maps from the other routes. As glad as I am that all four routes are included with the game, there is less replay value in those four routes than in Fates' three.
Fates has better maps
One advantage Fates has is the maps. Not only are there more maps to fight on, but the Dragon Veins, which units of royal blood can manipulate, allow for unique mechanics, such as the ability to spring traps on enemies or create new paths for your units.
If you do enough skirmishes or Paralogues in Three Houses, you'll eventually start seeing the same maps repeating themselves. For example, Felix and Sylvain's Paralogues take place in the same city in Faerghus used for Kingdom skirmishes, while Ingrid and Dorothea's Paralogue takes you to Ailell.
In Fates, however, while you will often visit many of the same locations, such as Izumo, across all three paths, many of the common ones have at least two different variants. In Izumo's case, Birthright's variation has you fighting in the desert, with Dragon Veins that make the terrain easier to traverse, while Conquest and Revelations have you fight on a maze of walkways, with the Dragon Veins causing winds to blow units away.
Fates has a better ending
While Three Houses' story is overall better than Fates, I found the ending to be a bit underwhelming, especially given its brevity.
Regardless of which route you pick in Three Houses, the ending has the following elements.
1.An animated cutscene that concludes the final battle.
2.A conversation/marriage proposal between Byleth and whoever s/he S Supported.
3.The list of the MVPs for each mission.
4.All the characters' epilogues, which also reveals who ended up together.
5.The credits. "The Edge of Dawn" plays in every route besides Crimson Flower.
It isn't a bad ending, per se, but it could provide a bit more closure.
Meanwhile, Fates' routes end the following way.
1.The final boss- Dragon Garon(Birthright) Anankos-possessed Takumi(Conquest) or Anankos himself(Reveation)- perishes.
2.Azura's fate: she dies(Birthright), disappears without a trace(Conquest), or survives (Revelation)
3.The victorious nation crowns a new king- Ryoma b(Birthright) or Xander (Conquest). They are visited by the new ruler of their former enemy- Leo (Birthright) or Hinoka (Conquest)- who mourn their losses- Xander and Elise (Birthright) or Ryoma and Takumi (Conquest). Together, they discuss the future with cautious optimism. As for Revelation, Corrin becomes king or queen of Valla, and makes a treaty with Ryoma and Xander.
4.Corrin seeks out Azura one last time.
5.Corrin celebrates with his/her siblings.
6.A list of the MVPs for each mission.
7.The characters' epilogues are shown on the top screen, while the credits are shown on the bottom. "Lost In Thoughts All Alone" plays.
This ending is bittersweet. One can argue that there was no need to make a third route in which all the major characters survive, but that ending also brings an effective close to the story. I would have liked to see more of Three Houses' ending, particularly what your Lord's plans for the future are, as well as some characters' thoughts on the final battle. Perhaps your character could take one final walk around Garreg Mach and talk to everyone who survived the war. Unfortunately, what's done is done, and all I can do is speculate how to improve Three Houses' ending.
The Soundtrack
This was a difficult choice to make, since both games have excellent soundtracks, but I slightly prefer Fates' soundtrack. There is more variety in the battle soundtracks, unlike Three Houses, which most often uses four soundtracks- one for early Part 1, one for late Part 1, one for early Part 2, and one for late Part 2. One thing I liked more about Three Houses' soundtrack, though, is that when you engage a unique enemy, the "boss theme," (for example, Paths That Will Not Cross for a non-recruited unit), plays until that enemy is defeated, with the Thunder variant during battle and the Rain variant outside of battle.
Conclusion
Again, Three Houses is superior to Fates in many regards, but I also enjoyed Fates despite its flaws, and think that it should be appreciated for what it does well. I cannot promise that all Fire Emblem fans will enjoy Fates, but if you have a 3DS and enjoy Fire Emblem, it is worth a look.
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