3 Houses: Picked up a Switch this September as a reward for a job change. I've beaten almost two campaigns (Azure Moon and Verdant Wind) - on C.21 of VW right now. For the most part, this game is really good. Cold Steel 3 was what I was looking forward to playing but 3 Houses wins the award for probably the best game of this year. It's close though since I also loved Azure but yeah, pretty glad I was finally able to sink my teeth into it!
I do have some minor nitpicks but they don't super detract away from the game. The main one will probably be familiar to everyone who has played 3H, is that you can't enjoy all the campaigns without starting the game from the very beginning. This means, while there are 3 campaigns (4 if you count Church route), you end up having to replay a bunch of earlier levels, where the enemies and levels aren't as creative or challenging. To give 3H some credit, I'm not sure with how the game is set up how you can set up a midpoint without ruining the immersion or character skill level customization. Both are kinda important for making 3H work. It is really the one glaring problem in 3H because IntSys has shown they know how to use midpoint checks before (see FE7 and FE8).
The other minor issues I've spoken about in Discord. For example: I'm also not a huge fan of cutting off recruitment halfway through the game. Normally in other FE entries, there's always an early game crutch (Jeigan) and a late game crutch in case you get really screwed. FE7 had Athos, FE9-10 gave you Laguz royals, Echoes gave you Mycen, etc. 3H really has no recourse here. It also has no real Jeigan. The closest we come to is Catherine and she's more of the Oswin/Nolan archetype versus a Marcus. To make up for this fact though, 3H does a lot of curb potential screwage. You have: Battalions that give extra stats, Class minimums for insurance on a certain stat's floor value, Combat abilities that allow you to make up Strength, Hit and even Attack Speed weaknesses (on player phase), accessory slot to provide a little more customization and benefits to units. I still would've preferred a more guarantee solution in the form of a unit, but what's there is adequate. Another example is that 3H doesn't tell you which skills are learnt from class mastery or skill proficiency. The slight good news is that class masteries aren't super important (although there are a few that are just very good to have in general). However, skill proficiencies is a different story as the magic list and combat art list for every unit is different. I have no idea if investing in say Lances for Sylvain fully is a better idea than fully investing in Axes until I run a playthrough to do both.
These minor blemish I think hold it back slightly for me, for all that 3H is very good and you should definitely play it if you have a Switch. As I spoke about in chat, it's basically Echoes++ with a lot of the bad stuff removed, leaving behind a very unique experience that plays more towards Neo/Modern FE.
Units and Thoughts (not ordered in tiers):
Top tier units: Byleth, Lords (haven't use Edelgard, but I doubt she isn't top tier), your Dancer unit
Pretty conservative Top tier list, but also not surprising. Byleth's versatility along with his/her overall growths make him/her always a great combat unit or support unit if yours gets screwed somewhat. Held back largely by a mediocre magic list and needing to use Exploration time to get WEXP. The latter is curbed on a New Game+ and if you ever want to see how broke that ends up being, definitely try it and get a good laugh. Between Dimitri and Claude, Dimitri has a stronger early game as his offense starting out is already notable. Has a weaker mid-game before the time skip unless you build him around specifically with Wyverns in mind. Late game, his offense shoots out of the roof. Immense strength and Atrocity is ridiculous. He's also pretty good defensively too as Royal Lineage gets upgraded to give him +20 Avoid at full health, letting you build some evade tanking on top of his decent Defense. Claude on the other hand has a weaker early game, stronger mid-game and probably the best T3 promotion between the lords. Flying + bows, along with his stat base means he's the most agile and mobile of the three and his offense isn't that much worse for the wear. Like Dimitri is very strong late game, although probably the weakest in this tier.
High tier units:
Lysithea: Probably the game's strongest mage. Pre-DLC, Lysithea is held back by having weaker choices for Tier 4. You'll have to do quite a bit more work to get her to Dark Knight, otherwise, you're probably defaulting to Gremory. Given the amount of power she has, she usually doesn't need the Double spell charges, although 2x Warp is nice. With DLC, that drawback goes away. Her defenses are pretty bad but she's an extremely strong glass cannon - especially once the +2 magic attack range accessory comes in.
Catherine: Her only real problem is that she's stuck in Swordsmaster, which is a bad class. You'll have to recruit her early, but as was discussed in chat, she's basically Nolan or Oswin. Someone who starts off strong, but you do need to put time into developing her and she can't one-woman carry you like a Marcus or Seth. Otherwise, instant access to a Hero's Relic (a strong one at that), actual growths and no real troubling banes make her damn good.
Felix: His strong bases + Raven-esque growths (55/55 on Str/Spd) make him a physical offense cannon. He tends to hit harder than Petra who is similar in terms of stat spread but his problem lies mainly in his proficiencies. Sword/Fisticuffs are kinda eeeeeeeeeh and an authority bane is bad. He doesn't mind Assassin that much but he's definitely more limited in where he tends to grow.
Mercedes: Probably the game's best healer due to having actual usable combat stats and Fortify as a reasonable time. Turning her into a Gremory gives you 4 shots of that which is a total lifesaver if you get in a bad spot. Her one kind of minor blemish is speed. It's more iffy than Lysithea's but even if it turns bad, you can just keep her at range due to her White Mag List.
Sylvain: Just...very versatile. He has 3 viable builds - all of which work at end game (Pal, Wyvern Lord, Dark Knight). In the early game, he has access to his legendary weapon ridiculously early and it kind of wrecks the damage curve if you are okay with blowing it's charges. His main problem is accuracy, but you can build him in many ways, which means you can slot him into a team easy. Plus he's basically free if you are playing as F.Byleth.
Petra: Felix with worse strength growth but better proficiencies. So her start is a bit worse, but she's definitely stronger at end game. Also has a lot of versatility, although it's mostly with the physical jobs. Dodge-tanking or a Wyvern Lord smashing flyer both work for her. Basically does anything on Player Phase due to her insane speed + access to Darting Blow if you so choose.
Hilda: Has a built in path to Wyvern Lord and is otherwise really strong. Instead of speed, Hilda's big growth number is in strength. However, she also has access to Darting Blow so if you want to make her have the possibility of doubling more stuff, it's also on the table. Also gets access to her legendary pretty early, which makes her just pure ball of power, capable of even OHKOing things pretty frequently. Authority bane kinda of sucks though.
Marianne: I waffle between the tiers here, but I think this is right with DLC. Marianne has both riding AND flying proficiency bonus, which means she can make great use out of the DLC classes. She likes both because one helps her ramp up her borderline speed and the other gives her Uncanny Blow was mastered, which she greatly appreciates as she's stuck with Blizzard for her base Reason spell. Both her magic lists are solid in general but no siege tomes is a bummer. Her budding talent in Lances is important since it lets her move into Pegasus Knight for Darting Blow to help with speed and later to Dark Knight to help with move. Both require a bit of investment, so she obviously likes the DLC classes more cause they are more readily available and can shore up those weaknesses just as well. Probably goes down a tier without the DLC since she'd require more effort then, but very solid.
Mid tier units:
Dedue: Strong start but mediocre finish. In the beginning, before enemy offense starts spiking and people get into their respective roles, Dedue's super high defense is very valuable and his damage is on par with everyone else. Later on, there are things that can break it and his slow speed means he's almost always doubled, so everything begins to look less impressive. Also, the last AM map is like 90% mages just to spite him or something.
Ashe: The opposite of Dedue. Starts off being pretty mediocre but when twinked in a certain way becomes very powerful and unique. A lot of the late AM maps are about positioning - where the enemies usually have some sort of terrain advantage or lots of siege weapons on deck. Ashe goes "lol whatever" with his 22 threat range bow snipes and knocks out those more fragile units in the back. Not a strategy that can be replicated in Maddening due to the extreme accuracy penalty that you suffer, but on Hard, a fully decked out Ashe has something like 237 Hit, making it a valid of taking out the map/unit disadvantages you end up facing.
Ingrid: Similar to Ashe. A little weak at the start, but her speed/res are a great so late game, becomes a valid FalcoKnight and proper magic tank. Which is good because not very many people fill that niche. Suffers slightly in the mid-game too when she doesn't have a really advanced class to tech up to, but its rather minor given this period isn't terribly long and FalcoKnight is one of the better intermediate jobs.
Cyril: It's the game's Aptitude project character, except Cyril is vastly different than them in that a) his bases while weak, are not god awful in the way Donnel/Mozu's are. b) This then comes with a trade off which is that he just doesn't end up as strong as them either. I later looked at his growth rates, and all aptitude really does is bump them into the averages of everyone else, so it's kinda misleading in how worthwhile of a project he is. The good news is, his skill proficiencies are solid and he tends to be a little above average once built up, so it's not like there's no pay off.
Constance: In some ways, very similar to Lysithea. Has a built in path to Dark Flier, which is probably the game's premier magic class. Her speed being a little weaker is made up for by having a magic set compatible with Black Tomefaire so she ends up hitting harder when both her and Lysithea are doubling. The downside here is that, Constance doesn't have a lot of branches to work to and if you're already building Lysithea as a flying mage death cannon, both of them end up fighting for the same resources (battalions, accessories, etc).
Dorthea: Maybe it's just me, but Dorthea always seems to grow weaker than the other mages. It doesn't matter too much because her spell list is just so strong. Psychic + Siege tome means she can stay safely in the back if yours ends up screwed on some combat stats. Probably weaker now with DLC compared to others because she has both banes in Riding and Flying and Valk + Dark Flier are both great classes. Doesn't mean she can grow into them but it takes more effort than the others.
Ferdinand: Is similar to Sylvain in that he's versatile with several different builds. This along with his personal, makes him the game's probable best dodge tank. He is weaker though in that he doesn't have a legendary weapon access like Sylvain does and his recruitment isn't free. In fact, you need to take Armor to C and while that's not completely worthless, going to Armor at C that early hamstrings Byleth's WEXP growth in other areas so it is still a notable tradeoff.
Leonie: Just a very solid growth spread. Like the other built-in pallies thus far, has some versatility in where you want to built her. Lack of a crest means you can't really use a legendary without committing suicide, but other than that, she works well on the frontlines.
Seteth: Late join, but is at least in a good class and his weapon proficiencies aren't in bad areas. Going to A spears gives him Swift Strikes, which a brave effect combat skill and fixes some other problems. Overall, he's a low effort filler. He won't go into other classes as easy, but he doesn't have to since he's arguably already in the game's best class line.
Low tier units:
Annette: What a terribly depressing magic list. She doesn't get anything notable like Psychic, Thoron or a Seige tome. She does have Wind and Cutting Gale is great, but that's about it. You can turn her into a Rally bot (gets +Speed and her own personal gives + Strength) or an magic axe wielding lady but that's a pretty sad route to end up going down.
Ignatz: All the archers specialize in something that's usually off kilter. For Ignatz, it's his extreme accuracy as his personal stacks with Archer's mastery for +40 Hit. Unfortunately, he lacks Deadeye, so he can't pull the same tricks as Ashe. Then on top of that, he's stuck on a route where you have Claude, the route's dedicated Archer who also flies. All this is just bad news for Ignatz' usability. The extreme accuracy comes in handy once or twice and he does have a stat breaker build unique to him, but the few times he shines are very minute.
Raphael: All you need to know about Raph is his growth spread, which includes 6 base speed +15% growth. He is completely saved by class minimums but he's tough to use just because so many things will eat into his HP and he ends up being way less durable as a frontliner than you'd like. To his credit, he at least hits decently but there's a lack of long term project here since you can easily build up another punch dude with actual speed by that point.
Manuela: Very weird. Her white spell list isn't all that amazing and having a reason bane means she's a mage with a magic list problem. On growths, she's basically Ingrid but magic focused. This tends to be a problem because there really isn't a good class for her to occupy. About the best plan you can hope for here is to build Manuela as an Assassin or Trickster and wield Levin Swords. Like Annette, this isn't exactly a great plan, but it's something. Having to work to build all those weapon levels...oof.
Hanneman: Most mages in 3H hover around the same spectrum for speed, with Lys being the fastest. Hanneman is probably on the other end as the slowest. Except he's notably slower compared to everyone else. He does get access to Thoron and Meteor, which is great but you have to work quite a bit of his WEXP to get there. His Magic also isn't as spec'd out like Constance. If it was, his type of build (single powerful hit ala Orochi in Fates) might be something but as is, he has problems when stacked against the others.
Shamir: Good early, pretty bad late. Shamir is solid early to mid-game filler before everyone gets going. However, there's a lack of long term game plan here so you definitely want to keep her around too long. She tends to get outclassed by the time the time skip is about to happen, but that does give her around 5-6 chapters +whatever paralogues you have to work her magic.
Alois: Shamir, trading in that good early-mid stint for being a potential project for later use if you're willing to reclass him and give him some skills. This is not terribly promising but does let you etch him into late game if you've had deaths or bad RN rolls on certain units.
Flayn: Her saving grace is her White Magic list is quite good (Rescue AND Fortify). The downside is she's pretty bad otherwise for combat. The stat spread is not great and she lacks levels in Reason. These things along with her delayed start make her similar to being a project since you need to feed her Reason WEXP, then regular EXP. She does join early enough that she can get out of the hole but that hole shouldn't be there in the first place.
Bottom tier units:
Lorenz: Dumpster fire man is also dumpster fire in terms of his build. He's set out to either be a tankier paladin or tankier mage, giving up some speed for some better defenses. This tends to lead to him being too slow to do much of anything and enemy offense shoots up much faster than his slightly higher than normal defenses. He probably actually works best if you treat him as a mage rather than a frontliner, but even, there's a lot of competition there and his magic list has issues. He does get a notable mention in that you need to do his paralogue to get his broken ass accessory so you'll probably recruit him regardless, but yikes.
Caspar: Just very mediocre in a non-inspirational build. All the dedicated fist guys tend to be slower but Caspar tends to be the faster. This doesn't really save him though because his strength is lower to make up for it and if you want to be a punch dude, you want to have more power so your first two hits count. Throw his bleh proficiencies on top and you got someone that becomes hard to justify using. Oh yeah AND an authority bane on top of that cause why not???
Gilbert: If his introduction as a guest doesn't make you sad with profound sadness, don't worry; Gilbert will disappoint you on official join. Inaccurate (like 50ish hit most of the time), very slow (lol 2 raw speed) and he's on a path where Dedue is already present at a time when Dedue is beginning to fall off on a pure defensive front. Even if you treat him as a new recruit and respec him, he joins 13 chapters later than everyone. I guess he deserves a mention for being the only person who will likely get to Great Knight and you need him to do an AM unique paralogue but holy crap he is bad. Is definitely the game's worst recruit by a notable margin.
That should be most of the characters. Big ones I'm missing are Edelgard and Hubert, but there are a few others. Will update when I finish the Black Eagles campaign.
