We now have more details on the upcoming Nintendo Switch title, Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
This information comes from the latest issue of Famitsu, a Japanese gaming publication. This week’s issue carries with it details on Fire Emblem: Three Houses various characters, gameplay, and House traits. While the original story is in Japanese a Twitter user named BlackKite has since gone on to translate it, and since then went on to gaming forum ResetEra. The information is largely concerned with the differences between the three Houses, details on gameplay, character ranking, and traits.
Here are some of the more interesting tidbits released originally by Famitsu (original Twitter post here, and ResetEra thread here.)
CHARACTERS:
Protagonist - You originally worked as a mercenary but your talents got noticed so you become a professor at the elite Officer's Academy. Your mom already passed away so you live with your dad who was leader of the Knights of Seiros and now leads a mercenary band. As a professor, you must choose one of three houses to lead its students. Each house has many different students to meet and train, each with their own personalities and skills.
Geralt - A legendary being who is also said to be the strongest knight in history. Was summoned to Garreg Mach Monastery together with the protagonist, which makes him return to the Knights once again.
Sothis - A mysterious girl who looks young but speaks in an old manner. She saves the protag at the fateful night. She normally doesn't show herself up and she speaks with telepathy into your head, so no one except you notice her. She also lost the memory of her true self.
Edelgard - Princess of the Adrestian Empire who has been promised the position of the next empress. A talented woman who has a cold & noble atmosphere. Adrestian Empire has the longest history. Many people here are more skilled in magic than weapons.
Dimitri - An eloquent youth who has good manners & embodied chivalry, but he somehow holds a shadow. Perhaps because the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is known for its knights, many of the students here are good at using spears.
Claude - A friendly youth whose smile fits him well. Although he doesn't seem like thinking of things too deeply, he has a sharp insight. Compared to the other classes, Golden Deer has more commoner students. Many of them are also good at using bows.
GAMEPLAY
In terms of gameplay, it has been confirmed that Fire Emblem: Three Houses is going to have a time rewind system, which is made possible thanks to Sothis. Sothis has an innate ability to turn back time, making her a useful new member of your team. This system has been implemented before in Fire Emblem Echoes, where you are able to rewind per movement but it is extremely limited for balance reasons.
The game is also set to have different terrain effects, which greatly affect combat not only in terms of movement costs and evasion rates, but also with gimmicks such as heals or even warps. Fire Emblem: Three Houses also includes choices for difficulty at normal or hard, plus your pick of either a casual or classic mode.
Changing classes has been reworked to use a Qualification Exam system. Simply put, your character needs to spend Exam Passes and the chance of successfully passing improves with correct use of skill ranks. Once that specific class has been unlocked, your character can now change back freely at any given time.
Some of the ranked skills in Fire Emblem: Three Houses include: Sword Skill, Spear Skill, Axe Skill, Bow Skill, Physics (Black and dark magic), Faith (White magic), Flying (Flier classes), Heavy Armor (Armored classes) and Horseriding (Cavalry classes).
It would seem that each character, according to the translation, has good and bad ranks. All characters start as the commoner or noble class depending on the origins they picked, but these classes are very much the same stat-wise.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is set to be released only on the Nintendo Switch on July 26.
