Fire Emblem: Three Houses

 Switch
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2891 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,540 out of 2891
  2. Mixed: 124 out of 2891
  3. Negative: 227 out of 2891
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  1. KitsuneMask
    Nov 12, 2019
    10
    Just my GOTY and one of my favourite games of the switch. So lovely characters and cool history
  2. Grijandor
    Nov 11, 2019
    10
    Tenía un poco de miedo antes de empezar a jugarlo ya que consideraba esta saga fue decayendo tras los geniales inicios en game boy advance, pero el nuevo enfoque que le han dado en la escuela me parece de lo más entretenido, hay un montón de personajes con los que entablar relacion, cada uno con historias y personalidades muy diferentes y misiones secundarias. Tambien están las tres casasTenía un poco de miedo antes de empezar a jugarlo ya que consideraba esta saga fue decayendo tras los geniales inicios en game boy advance, pero el nuevo enfoque que le han dado en la escuela me parece de lo más entretenido, hay un montón de personajes con los que entablar relacion, cada uno con historias y personalidades muy diferentes y misiones secundarias. Tambien están las tres casas y la historia alternativa de una de ellas, total que entre todo eso tenemos un montón de horas de juego y partidas que van a tener builds muy diferentes.… Expand
  3. mushromfer
    Nov 8, 2019
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 游戏6分，中文加1分，因为毫无诚意的dlc（前三弹）扣一分。这不是传统火纹，夹杂着过多的少男少女养成要素。重复的关卡，重复的模型，重复的音乐，重复的动作，重复的战记，平衡性很差，所以玩过一遍就很乏味。除了画质好了，战斗部分是系列最差也好不过分。后续还把明显是本体拆下来的东西当dlc卖。既然已经跳票应该好好打磨一下的，期待一个富含战略性可重复游玩性的火纹。… Expand
  4. B7san
    Nov 8, 2019
    10
    What a great game! Really love this series. Highly recommended entry for new players to the FE series. Two big thumbs up!!
  5. KiiRaKrYz
    Nov 5, 2019
    9
    Super powerful. Each character has dimensions in the role. You may need up to 200 hours to get to the core of the game.
  6. Govninjo
    Nov 5, 2019
    10
    One of the best games in this generation. Fun and addictive gameplay with a lot of opportunities for building classes. Lots of well-written charismatic characters with tons of dialogues between them. 3 different storylines each with its own unique conclusion and interactions. Definitely would recommend .
  7. Not_Elias
    Nov 3, 2019
    10
    I may kinda maybe slightly perhaps be on my 7th. play through, please send help.
  8. Ctarblu
    Nov 3, 2019
    3
    The first half of the game is almost good though easy as hell even on hard difficulty. But the second half... Let's split it into the sections
    1. Balance
    Before the time skip you don't even need to think to go through most of the missions. After the *spoiler* there is a huge difficulty spike. And no I'm not a dummy who can't do good trades or use game mechanics. Instead of creating    The first half of the game is almost good though easy as hell even on hard difficulty. But the second half... Let's split it into the sections
    1. Balance
    Before the time skip you don't even need to think to go through most of the missions. After the *spoiler* there is a huge difficulty spike. And no I'm not a dummy who can't do good trades or use game mechanics. Instead of creating difficult lay outs or introducing new game mechanics to make fights harder developers choose to make corridor maps with infinite enemy spawns. I literally had a situation where after 25 minutes of clearing mobs I had more enemies on the map than on the start of the mission. It's not a good game design it's an artificial difficulty
    2. Story
    Again the first half is fine. There is not a lot going on, but it's basically introduction to the world. The second half is the problem. I went eagle route. There is 18 chapters in it if I recall correctly. Imagine the game where right after a huge plot point progression stops for 6-8 hours in the last third of the game. That is FE:TH. 4-5 chapters at the start of second half provide no story whatsoever. And don't even try to argue "you just didn't complete those side activities". Main story should NEVER be hidden under various side activities. There are a lot of gamers who play story base games for the main story.
    3. Characters
    This one is controversial but I just didn't like them. They felt generic and almost all of them lack in character development. But I get why some people like them
    4. UI
    Some texts are unreadable in portable mod. And overall UI is far from perfect.
    5. Performance
    There a some awful looking textures, awful backgrounds and frame drops but it's not that big of a deal. The game is playable and looks fine
    Can't rate it higher. I wanted this game to be good so hard but it's not even average imo    … Expand
  9. Immu222
    Nov 1, 2019
    10
    Absolutely amazing game a must buy for switch owners. Personally FF3H is my GOTY for 2019 yet. I have spent 100+ hours just to complete 1 route in BE houses and still playing to finish all routes, unlock all supports with every character. The game play, the story and the characters are all absolutely great. Can't wait for the Dlc story that's in the work.
  10. LiviuMisty29
    Nov 1, 2019
    10
    I am 8 hours (about 3 chapters ) in and the game is fantastic from presentation,music, characters, content, gameplay and even story or lore for as much as I was able to get from them so far. Gameplay wise I am so happy to see that the mechanics are simple as long as you understand what combat arts and battalions are - no buffs and debuffs, no stupid weapon drawbacks like in Fates, overallI am 8 hours (about 3 chapters ) in and the game is fantastic from presentation,music, characters, content, gameplay and even story or lore for as much as I was able to get from them so far. Gameplay wise I am so happy to see that the mechanics are simple as long as you understand what combat arts and battalions are - no buffs and debuffs, no stupid weapon drawbacks like in Fates, overall no weird gimmicks. I love the different activities that you can do in order to make your characters better. For those who do not like the social aspect do not worry it is not mandatory but you will have a better experience and better units if you do them. I have to say that in 8 hours I had like 5 battles in total but I did not feel bored of doing the social activities because the social activities helped me earn money, items and of course improve my characters weapon proficiencies in order to be able to have better units in battle. I chose the Black Eagles but I love all the characters because each and any one of them is unique. I look forward to see what is going to happen later in the story and there has to be something awful happening later in order to change my opinion and give it a lower rating. Overall if you are into strategic rpgs and probably let's say you played games like persona you should definitely pick this game up.
    EDIT: I have managed to finish 2 out of the 4 routes and I did this in 270 hours I can say that the story and characters are amazing. A drawback is that you have to choose the house of these characters in order to find out more about them and also the story is split and in order to find out absolutely everything about it you have to play absolutely all of them. Luckily Claude's route gave me enough answers in order to appreciate the story a lot. I started with Edelgard's route and unfortunately that was not the best idea because there is not many answers to the important questions that are being addressed. I recommend starting with Claude's route for the first playthrough because it will hook you in order to find out even more on the other routes. Overall I will keep the score that I gave this game initially because it exceeded all my expectations. Happy gaming :).    … Expand
  11. Hiddenkeys
    Nov 1, 2019
    10
    This game successfully did what Fates was trying to do in terms of emotional/moral conflictions.
  12. ernesto_saca
    Nov 1, 2019
    10
    As a fan of fire emblem for years this game has been my favorite so far although it is not as difficult as the other older games but it compensates very well with interesting new mechanics and a very interesting story in its 4 routes and a good variety of different characters and a lot of rejugability potential to be able to choose a different route, recruit different characters or theAs a fan of fire emblem for years this game has been my favorite so far although it is not as difficult as the other older games but it compensates very well with interesting new mechanics and a very interesting story in its 4 routes and a good variety of different characters and a lot of rejugability potential to be able to choose a different route, recruit different characters or the same ones from the previous time but specialize them in something different which is very good if you are a fan of the saga and you always want more . Finally, as something more personal, I would recommend playing it in classic difficulty since I feel that it is enjoyed more in that way since the fact of losing a unit forever during that game makes you have to think better about your strategies as in chess Where every movement counts a highly recommended game if you have a Nintendo switch… Expand
  13. GoldyTrez
    Oct 31, 2019
    8
    I really need to play this game more, fun gameplay features and characters. I can tell this game has massive potential so I'll certainly update this review in the future.
  14. Imrahill001
    Oct 27, 2019
    10
    If you love playing JRPG then you have no reason to not play this game, the rosters starts at a bunch of generic characters who fit the standard archetype, but as soon you start digging up the surface you will find very good scripted characters; the narrative fills its purpose very well, and while its not fully unpredictable it doesn't make it feel weaker.
    The tutoring system and sunday    If you love playing JRPG then you have no reason to not play this game, the rosters starts at a bunch of generic characters who fit the standard archetype, but as soon you start digging up the surface you will find very good scripted characters; the narrative fills its purpose very well, and while its not fully unpredictable it doesn't make it feel weaker.
    The tutoring system and sunday exploration may cause a bit of frustration to players that doesn't like that kind of simulation but you can skip it and the game will do it for you letting to go straight to the history; I don't advice to do this however as that will make feel characters a bit shallow but if you want to focus in battles then you can do it.
    The most important of a JRPG its is battle system and AI challenge and this game does have that for medium players, if you are a hardcore JRPG the standard difficulty will seems a bit low at start but that will compensate as you move forward into the history, the system allows to play as you want and that freedom can be a bit overwhelming if you don't want to dig in that but you don't have to if you don't want, also if you are hardsteel hardcore fan of RPG you can take the maddening difficulty and you will feel happy there, specially if you are no using a new game+ save to start from scratch and even if you use it the game will still challenge you.
    It sound is lovely, relaxing when you are wandering around the monastery, exciting in the battles and even glee if the situation requires it; if you value the sound of a game highly this game won't disappoint you at all.
    And finally the only con of this game, its graphics are a bit low matched to other games, that only when talking about the wallpapers which to be true are a low quality; but if you are playing to play and RPG the graphics won't bother at allow, the characters designs are beautiful, the game moves fluidly and there is no reason you should bother on the wallpapers as they don't meddles with the gameplay.    … Expand
  15. Kritsuwan
    Oct 26, 2019
    10
    Very good game The system is far better than the previous one and take all good points from each games together. Graphic is ok but fighting scene is very smooth
    Gameplay is flawless
  16. Lushen1212
    Oct 25, 2019
    10
    Super candidato a Goty. Uno de los.mejores juegos del año. Obra maestra en el genero.
  17. DCMCboxers
    Oct 25, 2019
    4
    If you are someone who came on board with the franchise during the 3DS era and stayed there, than this game may very well come off as a masterpiece. There are improvements to the overall quality of the story and characters as well as a return of some classic gameplay elements that make maps a bit more interesting than other recent titles. However, if you look at this game in a comparisonIf you are someone who came on board with the franchise during the 3DS era and stayed there, than this game may very well come off as a masterpiece. There are improvements to the overall quality of the story and characters as well as a return of some classic gameplay elements that make maps a bit more interesting than other recent titles. However, if you look at this game in a comparison to previous console Fire Emblems, the games which the developers claimed to take great inspiration from, you'll be met with disappointment.

    While Three Houses is an improvement of elements from the 3DS era, it's only that. It hasn't taken a necessary departure from elements in those games which actively compromise narrative quality and coherency. Byleth is perhaps the series worst iteration of a completely unnecessary addition: the avatar. The need for a player insert to be the center focus of the plot and several character's arcs compromises much of the story's integrity (and likely greatly contributed to the framing of one route in particular). The avatar being able to support with everyone for the sake of romance was already a drain on overall support writing quality, but now character's simply talk to silent brick wall as they rattle off the interesting bits of their backstories or suddenly surpass their issues. These explorations are rarely saved for supports between actual characters where their individual quirks or past histories would make for interesting conversation.
    But even outside of Byleth, supports continue to be disappointing. While characters have moved on from having one quirk to solely portray their character, you can now generally expect two or three quirks. With one in particular being singled out for any group dialogue that happens between house members. Some conversations do manage to at least be humorous or entertaining, but rarely do anything to meaningfully expand on the depth of a particular character, explore their backstory, add to the world of Fodlan, or be tonally appropriate to the game's second act. And when a support chain does end up adding something meaningful, expect it to be rather redundantly explored again in a chain with a different character. Most A supports disappointingly follow one of two formulas: if the character's are m/f then expect some kind of forced suggestion of romance, if the character's are the same sex, then expect the conversation to go something like this "Hey remember that trivial conversation we had 5 years ago? Well..." and then another really trivial conversation. Supports tend to be better when at least one unit who is not recruitable into other routes is present, which leads to my next point of contention.

    Like in Fates, the split route idea was poorly executed and hampers the game on multiple fronts. While a less obvious money making scheme, I see little reason to have had another multiple routes game other than how easy it is to build a marketing campaign over team rivalry (and boy are people rather zealously passionate about whatever house they picked first.. so it worked). Part 1 is far too long to have to replay for each of the game's routes and replaying it only makes the narrative road bumps in it more obvious, the maps are not interesting enough to justify how many times you'll be revisiting them unless you're very invested in doing weird builds for units, part 2 of any route often shares the same story beats with one another if not the same maps outright, being able to recruit many of the characters regardless of which route you're on ruins a lot of character integrity, etc. etc. etc.
    The split routes only work on a thematic level of distinctly separating your main lords ideology, but the game itself doesn't really care about maintaining enough internal consistency or actually saying anything for this to be a good enough justification.

    Now for some sightly more petty complaints:

    Dialogue. Now this may very well be the fault of some rushed translating. The game has a lot of text and literal translations seem to be a broad issue lately with bringing over Japanese media. But man, sometimes characters say a whole lot without ever really saying anything at all. And voice acting seems to bring little clarity to this.
    Graphics. Pretty awful. 3D models technically add more to support conversations, but not enough from what you'd expect them to add. It gets tiring to see character's cycle through something like only eight different emotes. Battle animations have some nice flare but something about the choreography of attacks adds little weight to the motions themselves. And the cutscenes.... Choppy with poor direction, weirdly trying to look 2D with 3D models. Radiant Dawn and some of the 3DS cutscenes have more visual appeal than what's on display here.
    Music. It's fine if not for over-relying on one or two leitmotifs. I felt like Fates has this issue, too. However, I was really hoping for the same kind of quality as Echoes' OST.    … Expand
  18. valdyk
    Oct 21, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Traditional turn-based combat that certainly hook me up with tactical approach for every battle....also this game make me thinking for hours before s-support… Expand
  19. imran_meerkat
    Oct 20, 2019
    9
    I did 50 hours on this game. absolutely loved it. persona 5 meets harry potter. great twist midway through the story. one of the best games of 2019!
  20. Foxenz
    Oct 17, 2019
    6
    As a Fire Emblem fan, this game is a little disappointing. The positive points on it are the battle system and how beautifully the graphics are made. The story has good plots too. I believe one of the main failures of it is that the characters are very unidimensional, with poorly constructed personalities which I found hard to relate. They do not shine as in previous games. Not to mentionAs a Fire Emblem fan, this game is a little disappointing. The positive points on it are the battle system and how beautifully the graphics are made. The story has good plots too. I believe one of the main failures of it is that the characters are very unidimensional, with poorly constructed personalities which I found hard to relate. They do not shine as in previous games. Not to mention how the game seems to take a step backwards as it limits several relationships, not including LGBT options in a proper way. Another negative point is that the master classes are a bit conflicting, favouring some weapons much more than others and commonly adding a horse or dragon to more or about 70% of them. The "school" exploration is a bless and a curse, fun in the beginning until it becomes so overly grindy and tedious. You can skip it, but when you skip one of the game's main attraction, there's certainly something wrong with it.

    Fire Emblem can be and deserves to be much better than this. With more personality, good interactions and a little more attention to the evolution of classes, this game could have been nearly perfect. Unfortunately it is not there yet.    … Expand
  21. AndyNJessie
    Oct 17, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Harry Potter, Persona 5 and Fire Emblem Combine to make this amazing game. It gets dark in the second half of the game just like harry Potter. and the paths you choose really make you fall into dilemma. Kill your own students was the most painful thing to do. 4 paths you can choose, makes this game super highly replayable. So many customizations and skills and combat arts and crest and ancient relic weapons best part is there is no more buying magic books and also added repair weapons option and beautiful soundtracks and enjoyable exploration and full voice for all dialogues and the voice actors are really amazing. they really spent a lot of time and money to make this game. Graphics are top of the line for the Switch. It have to be one of the best strategy games ever.… Expand
  22. Nowakowski
    Oct 17, 2019
    0
    This game is my biggest disappointment; possibly one of the biggest disappointments I have had from a video game. It makes very little sense and just feels half baked.
    However, the story is dreadful. Honestly, this one is a bit of a dud for me and I'm surprised.
  23. jxdrxxn
    Oct 16, 2019
    10
    PERFECT we need an anime of this series, animations are 10/10 and loved the voicd acting, the game mechanics etc. THANK YOU NINTENDO
  24. Kleptomacer
    Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Obnoxious characters and boring story line make this game not worth playing. Avoid.
  25. weskergamer
    Oct 14, 2019
    10
    I just love this game, i spend 200 hours and never got bored. The story is so good and the characters so perfect that i didn't hate anyone of them. Recommended to every Switch owner
  26. ahluche
    Oct 13, 2019
    10
    One of the best games in this franchise. Oh and Edelgard is best girl. Okay.
  27. Spud_543
    Oct 8, 2019
    10
    Just broke past 250 hours and as a series veteran I got the itch to make an account just to review Intelligent system's magnum opus. This game takes the positives (timewheel, things to do between missions, multiple routes, magic) of the modern games, mixes it with the great story and character development of most older entries in the franchise, somehow pumps up all these things to 11 andJust broke past 250 hours and as a series veteran I got the itch to make an account just to review Intelligent system's magnum opus. This game takes the positives (timewheel, things to do between missions, multiple routes, magic) of the modern games, mixes it with the great story and character development of most older entries in the franchise, somehow pumps up all these things to 11 and still manages to include risky but rewarding changes completely unique to this entry all the while not feeling overloaded or cluttered. Magic and archery are even more rewarding, valuable and unique than ever with magic now having limited uses per mission instead of being tied to items or costing hp and archery finally feeling like a balanced and not absurdly over or underpowered mechanic. Character progression and choice in character progression is also better than ever with the ability to train specific skills outside of combat and promotion trees being far more open and accessible than previous series entries. The story is also a triumph of character writing with each faction truly believing they are right yet having their own faults. No faction has all the answers and it is up to you the player to decide which ending is the best for the characters. Speaking of characters the main and supporting cast of Three Houses is by far the strongest and most consistent of any series entry. Every last support line leads to some kind of character development on one or both ends and even entirely new information on characters is found which often is only found in that one support which truly incentivizes the player to recruit as many units as possible and level up every single support which is once again made far more convenient with activities that can be done between missions. This is the fire emblem game fans have been waiting the entire lifespan of the series to play and if it is an indication of the future of fire emblem I am extremely excited. Easily a must buy for the switch and likely the best entry point yet for newcomers to the series. If I could give this game a 100/10 I would. It does literally everything the series is meant to be about perfectly and then some and the only reason people should think twice before buying it immediately is if they don't have over a hundred hours to sink into it.

    Oh yeah also the soundtrack is goddamn amazing.    … Expand
  28. GreatS
    Oct 6, 2019
    9
    I have played this game for more than 150 hours and I still want keep playing. The thing I don't like is the free days when you roam around the monastery. It slows the game down too much, especially when one will spend more than 30 hours in this space that is not interesting enough. However, if you have any interest in this game, I recommend it strongly.
  29. Testuser134
    Oct 4, 2019
    9
    Definitely, definitely worth a buy both for long-term fans and newcomers. I believe it is a bit easier than previous installments, but it's not necessarily bad considering how big this game is and how many endings and story changes you can have depending on your choices and houses. For fans of jRPGs and strategies, just give it a go, it's worth your money.
  30. myndpyre
    Oct 4, 2019
    9
    New to the series, new to the platform. Normally I am a PC gamer kinda guy. This is a great game, deep storyline, interesting combat that continues to evolve as the game goes on. You get almost immediate emotional attachment to your students, and satisfaction watching them succeed. My only complaint is that the text is a bit small on a switch-lite, us old guys need bigger text options. :)
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Switch Game of 2019
4
#4 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019
4
#4 Most Shared Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 102 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 102
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 102
  3. Negative: 0 out of 102
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 28, 2020
    95
    There may be too much content here for busy adults to tackle! I don't know when I'm going to find the time to do full playthroughs of the other two Houses that I didn't choose to begin with! [Issue #41 – September 2019, p. 74]
  2. Universo Nintendo
    Oct 29, 2019
    90
    Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of Switch's best games of 2019 and a breeze of fresh air to this franchise. Unfortunately, its poor animations preclude any possibility of being the game of the year.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 11, 2019
    86
    Large selection of classes, good AI and wide variety of missions make Fire Emblem: Three Houses one of the best turn-based tactics. [Issue#240, p.50]
See all critic reviews »