Various role-playing RPG game stuff not deserving its own thread

[Roguey]

I’m remember that people were so dissatisfied with the ending of PO2 that Obsidian to try to rectify the ending with a patch . Haven’t seen a game did that since Mass Effect 3 ending shitshow controversy.

It clarified some matters that were unclear (an overcorrection of the "you're explaining too much in dialogue" criticism of the first game) and a DLC gave you an option to kill Eothas, but the ending itself remained unchanged.

[Kowe]

Out of all the Fire Emblem entries, I’ve only played Path of Radiance. Are the newer ones any good? If I recall correctly, the story in Path of Radiance was pretty typical by JRPG standards. I’ve always heard this series described as the bedrock of degeneracy in Japanese games—incest, lolis, faggotry, and the like. How much of that is present in the later games? I remember when Engage came out, the graphics looked like something a literal who indie dev would churn out.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of the better modern entries. It's not as good as it could have been as Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa had to rush it. Still, it's a good game and I have enjoyed it so far. Crimson Flower and Silver Snow done and it gets only better with what remains.

► About degeneracy

There is some degeneracy but it's not front and center and can easily be avoided. It depends on who gets S- and A-Rank support. From having finished both Crimson Flower and Silver Snow, no other characters were gay or lesbian.
A list of bisexual characters:

• For Male Byleth:
  • Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
  • Yuri (DLC)
  • Linhardt
• For Female Byleth:
  • Edelgard
  • Dorothea
  • Mercedes
  • Rhea

The game has a character with the appearance of a loli. The goddess Sothis. You can S-Rank her, but she is a ghost. The associated Epilogues for all four paths just make mentions of how Byleth takes on his new responsibilities as leader.
For incest, arguments can be made for two characters with Byleth, be it male or female. I only want to spoil it insofar that it all depends on the origin of Byleth's mother. It isn't explicitly stated how she is related to the others.
It's a spoiler, but Byleth is 21 years old at the end of the game. The students' age ranges from 15-22 and with the S-Rank Support available during the last mission, they are all over 18. In fact, they are 20-28.

► About Gameplay

Here is a rundown of its elements:

• It differs from other entries that it doesn't have a strict trinity of Sword, Lance and Axe. Instead, it is Axebreaker for Sword B. Swordbreaker for Lance B and Lancebreaker for Axe B. They grant Hit/Avo +20 for e.g. using a sword against an axe user.
• The rank uses ranks for its Skills. They range from E, E+, and so on, up to S+.
• The Skills are: Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, Brawling (Unarmed/Gauntlets), Reason (Black/Dark Magic), Faith (Light Magic), Authority, Heavy Armour, Riding, Flying.
• Certain ranks are required to pass exams to use their associated classes on characters along with their Stat Boni and Stat Growths. There is some variety to it.
• A few Classes are gender-restricted.
• It has a lot of freedom in mixing abilities.
• All playable characters have Maximum Stats making them lean into specific roles. Byleth's is Infantry as Sword user with his special class.
• It has the following Character Stats, besides HP obviously:
  • Strength is for physical damage.
  • Magic for magical damage.
  • Dexterity for Hit and Crit Chance.
  • Speed for Avoidance or Dodge Rate.
  • Luck for a few minor things and reducing Crit Chance from enemies.
  • Defense reduces physical damage. Resilience reduces magical damage.
  • Charm increases Gambit damage from Battalions, their hit chance and avoidance rate.
• There are a few more things which can be viewed in character windows on the battlefield. Attack Speed (AS), Hit Chance, Avoidance Rate, to name a few.
• Battalions can be used to increase various stats and act as bonus actions. This allows for further customization. They can run away from a battle if the characters they are used on are damaged enough, but can be replenished after.
• The game has three difficulties, with the third having been implemented with a patch in 2020. Normal, Hard and Maddening.
• Two modi: Classic for permadeath and Casual without it so they retreat from the battle.
• Has New Game+. It unlocks a few things and allows the player to spend Renown on various stuff. Professor Rank, and Skill Rank for both Byleth and the playable companions, for example.
• Byleth can run around in the Academy and it is easy to reach locations either by sprinting or using the map for teleports.
• Extra activities are so-so. Planting various seeds in the greenhouse, fishing, eating in the Dinner Hall, visiting the Academy's market, monthly Unit tournaments, searching for lost items, inviting unique NPCs for tea time or the Sauna. I haven't upgraded to version 1.2 yet, being on 1.0. Can't tell if the Sauna is weird or not.
• Unique NPCs can be recruited, though story paths can lock them out from it. Be it the choice of House or about half-way through the story.
• Extras in the title menu have a Music Library, Movie Gallery, Event Gallery, Support Conversations, Voiceover Language. All text is in English, Voiceover can be both English or Japanese.

► About Story

• Good world-building.
• There is variety in the story paths. It is recommended to play through them all to get the full story. This can easily take over 100+ hours playing casually.
• It is more of a tragedy than a happy story. Someone will die irrespective of the choice of house.
• It's more mature with the topics it deals. Some NPCs have been traumatized in their past.
• Crimson Flower is the worst story path with how lackluster it is. The others are okay to great.

► About Music

• It's great. Highlight is God Shattering Star.
• There is a Music Bibrary in the game which can be accessed via Extras in its title menu. Songs are unlocked by playing through content their are used for.

► Improvements (Spoilers)

This is rather subjective and do not read if you haven't finished the game.

• They should not have had four story branches half-way through the story. Best to have had Nemesis as final boss, but allowing the player to end the game sooner via a few choices. Same with whom to ally and who dies from that decision.
• Keep the choice to ally with the Empire & Agarthians over the Church of Seiros, Kingdom and Alliance. This requires the protagonist to be sort of corrupted and play a villain. Believable with how Relics came to be. Make Byleth's Crest a bit damaged then. This second path has the player learn way more about the Agarthians than the game does in its current state.
• Give A- to S-Rank support for the house leaders and their 2nd in command in the first half. Allow them to join in the second half. Hilda is the sole current outlier.
• Have the player be more involved as either advisor or leader with how to battle in Fodlan. Make these seconary missions like Paralogues. They help with the final boss fight against Nemesis & the Agarthians.
• Make Sothis look like an adult. (Mod)
• Remove gay stuff. Mainly about Epilogues and S-Rank Supports. (Mod probably)
• Slightly rewrite Sitri's backstory to avoid any association with potential incest.

[psychic_dream]

I had a great time with Bravely Default and its sequel. It felt like what Final Fantasy could’ve become in modern times if the series hadn’t gone full ****** after FFX. Even though FFXII returned to its fantasy roots, it played more like an offline MMO.

One of my favorite parts was experimenting with different class combinations. Most were well-balanced, making it hard to settle on a single playstyle during your first run. The story was simple but engaging, though it dragged on with the time-loop gimmick. I don’t remember much from End Layer, aside from the French sounding heroine and playing as a vanilla too-good-for-his-own-good protagonist, who is assigned to an elite military force serving the sacred priestess of the Wind Crystal from the first game (I won’t spoil more).

The gameplay changes in End Layer really stood out to me, especially the class rebalancing and the new classes. They also added an animation skip option, which honestly should've been in the first game from the beginning.

I haven’t gotten around to playing Bravely Default II. There wasn’t much buzz when it launched, so I figured it wasn’t that great.

[rusty_shackleford]

soulless

Selection_023.webp

sovl

c5dfa5cf8adf236cd082daf86d0f01c2dd0cb3a8a33a5dbea76a97ac76a392f6.png.webp

[Cipher]

Out of all the Fire Emblem entries, I’ve only played Path of Radiance. Are the newer ones any good? If I recall correctly, the story in Path of Radiance was pretty typical by JRPG standards. I’ve always heard this series described as the bedrock of degeneracy in Japanese games—incest, lolis, faggotry, and the like. How much of that is present in the later games? I remember when Engage came out, the graphics looked like something a literal who indie dev would churn out.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of the better modern entries. It's not as good as it could have been as Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa had to rush it. Still, it's a good game and I have enjoyed it so far. Crimson Flower and Silver Snow done and it gets only better with what remains.

► About degeneracy

There is some degeneracy but it's not front and center and can easily be avoided. It depends on who gets S- and A-Rank support. From having finished both Crimson Flower and Silver Snow, no other characters were gay or lesbian.
A list of bisexual characters:

• For Male Byleth:
  • Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
  • Yuri (DLC)
  • Linhardt
• For Female Byleth:
  • Edelgard
  • Dorothea
  • Mercedes
  • Rhea

The game has a character with the appearance of a loli. The goddess Sothis. You can S-Rank her, but she is a ghost. The associated Epilogues for all four paths just make mentions of how Byleth takes on his new responsibilities as leader.
For incest, arguments can be made for two characters with Byleth, be it male or female. I only want to spoil it insofar that it all depends on the origin of Byleth's mother. It isn't explicitly stated how she is related to the others.
It's a spoiler, but Byleth is 21 years old at the end of the game. The students' age ranges from 15-22 and with the S-Rank Support available during the last mission, they are all over 18. In fact, they are 20-28.

► About Gameplay

Here is a rundown of its elements:

• It differs from other entries that it doesn't have a strict trinity of Sword, Lance and Axe. Instead, it is Axebreaker for Sword B. Swordbreaker for Lance B and Lancebreaker for Axe B. They grant Hit/Avo +20 for e.g. using a sword against an axe user.
• The rank uses ranks for its Skills. They range from E, E+, and so on, up to S+.
• The Skills are: Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, Brawling (Unarmed/Gauntlets), Reason (Black/Dark Magic), Faith (Light Magic), Authority, Heavy Armour, Riding, Flying.
• Certain ranks are required to pass exams to use their associated classes on characters along with their Stat Boni and Stat Growths. There is some variety to it.
• A few Classes are gender-restricted.
• It has a lot of freedom in mixing abilities.
• All playable characters have Maximum Stats making them lean into specific roles. Byleth's is Infantry as Sword user with his special class.
• It has the following Character Stats, besides HP obviously:
  • Strength is for physical damage.
  • Magic for magical damage.
  • Dexterity for Hit and Crit Chance.
  • Speed for Avoidance or Dodge Rate.
  • Luck for a few minor things and reducing Crit Chance from enemies.
  • Defense reduces physical damage. Resilience reduces magical damage.
  • Charm increases Gambit damage from Battalions, their hit chance and avoidance rate.
• There are a few more things which can be viewed in character windows on the battlefield. Attack Speed (AS), Hit Chance, Avoidance Rate, to name a few.
• Battalions can be used to increase various stats and act as bonus actions. This allows for further customization. They can run away from a battle if the characters they are used on are damaged enough, but can be replenished after.
• The game has three difficulties, with the third having been implemented with a patch in 2020. Normal, Hard and Maddening.
• Two modi: Classic for permadeath and Casual without it so they retreat from the battle.
• Has New Game+. It unlocks a few things and allows the player to spend Renown on various stuff. Professor Rank, and Skill Rank for both Byleth and the playable companions, for example.
• Byleth can run around in the Academy and it is easy to reach locations either by sprinting or using the map for teleports.
• Extra activities are so-so. Planting various seeds in the greenhouse, fishing, eating in the Dinner Hall, visiting the Academy's market, monthly Unit tournaments, searching for lost items, inviting unique NPCs for tea time or the Sauna. I haven't upgraded to version 1.2 yet, being on 1.0. Can't tell if the Sauna is weird or not.
• Unique NPCs can be recruited, though story paths can lock them out from it. Be it the choice of House or about half-way through the story.
• Extras in the title menu have a Music Library, Movie Gallery, Event Gallery, Support Conversations, Voiceover Language. All text is in English, Voiceover can be both English or Japanese.

► About Story

• Good world-building.
• There is variety in the story paths. It is recommended to play through them all to get the full story. This can easily take over 100+ hours playing casually.
• It is more of a tragedy than a happy story. Someone will die irrespective of the choice of house.
• It's more mature with the topics it deals. Some NPCs have been traumatized in their past.
• Crimson Flower is the worst story path with how lackluster it is. The others are okay to great.

► About Music

• It's great. Highlight is God Shattering Star.
• There is a Music Bibrary in the game which can be accessed via Extras in its title menu. Songs are unlocked by playing through content their are used for.

► Improvements (Spoilers)

This is rather subjective and do not read if you haven't finished the game.

• They should not have had four story branches half-way through the story. Best to have had Nemesis as final boss, but allowing the player to end the game sooner via a few choices. Same with whom to ally and who dies from that decision.
• Keep the choice to ally with the Empire & Agarthians over the Church of Seiros, Kingdom and Alliance. This requires the protagonist to be sort of corrupted and play a villain. Believable with how Relics came to be. Make Byleth's Crest a bit damaged then. This second path has the player learn way more about the Agarthians than the game does in its current state.
• Give A- to S-Rank support for the house leaders and their 2nd in command in the first half. Allow them to join in the second half. Hilda is the sole current outlier.
• Have the player be more involved as either advisor or leader with how to battle in Fodlan. Make these seconary missions like Paralogues. They help with the final boss fight against Nemesis & the Agarthians.
• Make Sothis look like an adult. (Mod)
• Remove gay stuff. Mainly about Epilogues and S-Rank Supports. (Mod probably)
• Slightly rewrite Sitri's backstory to avoid any association with potential incest.

The problem here is that you have to pic a house very early and then for each ******* playthrough you have to go over the motions at the Academy again and again and again. So, that's 3 times at the very least or 4 times if you go for all the actual available routes.

Yeah, you can skip dialogue but that's still a **** ton of skipping. A lot of maps get reused and the missions get really stale. Blue Lions was my first run and honestly it was great. But after that, I wasn't able to go through the motions again to finish the rest of the routes and ended up starting them but never finishing Verdant Wind or the Seiros route. I did Edelgard because I read it was the shortest one and I couldn't bring myself to do it all over again a 3rd time, never mind a 4th time.

I still think its the best Nu Fe, that is the best Fire Emblem after Awakening happened. But the Academy stuff becomes a huge slog in subsequent playthroughs.

[traxtan]

estrogen.jpg

[Vergil]

For Male Byleth:

Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
Yuri (DLC)
Linhardt

**** these are all gorgeous I'd have no clue who to even pick uh I mean AVOID haha which one has the most content btw so I know which is the most woke and awful?

[psychic_dream]

For Male Byleth:

Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
Yuri (DLC)
Linhardt

**** these are all gorgeous I'd have no clue who to even pick uh I mean AVOID haha which one has the most content btw so I know which is the most woke and awful?

[psychic_dream]

What was special about Fable anyway? Did Peter Molyneux really overpromise on creating an ambitious, grandiose adventure? I looked up gameplay of the first one, and it looks unfathomably generic. It doesn’t seem fun to play, and some of the dialogue sounds corny as hell. There also seems to be a suspicious amount of diversity, particularly given that the setting is supposedly inspired by a fantastical medieval European world.

[Valter]

What was special about Fable anyway? Did Peter Molyneux really overpromise on creating an ambitious, grandiose adventure? I looked up gameplay of the first one, and it looks unfathomably generic. It doesn’t seem fun to play, and some of the dialogue sounds corny as hell. There also seems to be a suspicious amount of diversity, particularly given that the setting is supposedly inspired by a fantastical medieval European world.

Generic is apt. I would call it simple and charming, if not a little goofy. A whimsical little adventure that's honestly nothing to write home about. Mr. Moly definitely overpromised.

I wouldn't replay it, but the gameplay was fun enough for one playthrough, with special mention on the sheer amount of spells and abilities that were fun to experiment with.

It's also kinda short, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

[Marcus]

Ancient knowledge that has been lost over time. Sad.

[Kowe]

Out of all the Fire Emblem entries, I’ve only played Path of Radiance. Are the newer ones any good? If I recall correctly, the story in Path of Radiance was pretty typical by JRPG standards. I’ve always heard this series described as the bedrock of degeneracy in Japanese games—incest, lolis, faggotry, and the like. How much of that is present in the later games? I remember when Engage came out, the graphics looked like something a literal who indie dev would churn out.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of the better modern entries. It's not as good as it could have been as Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa had to rush it. Still, it's a good game and I have enjoyed it so far. Crimson Flower and Silver Snow done and it gets only better with what remains.

► About degeneracy

There is some degeneracy but it's not front and center and can easily be avoided. It depends on who gets S- and A-Rank support. From having finished both Crimson Flower and Silver Snow, no other characters were gay or lesbian.
A list of bisexual characters:

• For Male Byleth:
  • Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
  • Yuri (DLC)
  • Linhardt
• For Female Byleth:
  • Edelgard
  • Dorothea
  • Mercedes
  • Rhea

The game has a character with the appearance of a loli. The goddess Sothis. You can S-Rank her, but she is a ghost. The associated Epilogues for all four paths just make mentions of how Byleth takes on his new responsibilities as leader.
For incest, arguments can be made for two characters with Byleth, be it male or female. I only want to spoil it insofar that it all depends on the origin of Byleth's mother. It isn't explicitly stated how she is related to the others.
It's a spoiler, but Byleth is 21 years old at the end of the game. The students' age ranges from 15-22 and with the S-Rank Support available during the last mission, they are all over 18. In fact, they are 20-28.

► About Gameplay

Here is a rundown of its elements:

• It differs from other entries that it doesn't have a strict trinity of Sword, Lance and Axe. Instead, it is Axebreaker for Sword B. Swordbreaker for Lance B and Lancebreaker for Axe B. They grant Hit/Avo +20 for e.g. using a sword against an axe user.
• The rank uses ranks for its Skills. They range from E, E+, and so on, up to S+.
• The Skills are: Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, Brawling (Unarmed/Gauntlets), Reason (Black/Dark Magic), Faith (Light Magic), Authority, Heavy Armour, Riding, Flying.
• Certain ranks are required to pass exams to use their associated classes on characters along with their Stat Boni and Stat Growths. There is some variety to it.
• A few Classes are gender-restricted.
• It has a lot of freedom in mixing abilities.
• All playable characters have Maximum Stats making them lean into specific roles. Byleth's is Infantry as Sword user with his special class.
• It has the following Character Stats, besides HP obviously:
  • Strength is for physical damage.
  • Magic for magical damage.
  • Dexterity for Hit and Crit Chance.
  • Speed for Avoidance or Dodge Rate.
  • Luck for a few minor things and reducing Crit Chance from enemies.
  • Defense reduces physical damage. Resilience reduces magical damage.
  • Charm increases Gambit damage from Battalions, their hit chance and avoidance rate.
• There are a few more things which can be viewed in character windows on the battlefield. Attack Speed (AS), Hit Chance, Avoidance Rate, to name a few.
• Battalions can be used to increase various stats and act as bonus actions. This allows for further customization. They can run away from a battle if the characters they are used on are damaged enough, but can be replenished after.
• The game has three difficulties, with the third having been implemented with a patch in 2020. Normal, Hard and Maddening.
• Two modi: Classic for permadeath and Casual without it so they retreat from the battle.
• Has New Game+. It unlocks a few things and allows the player to spend Renown on various stuff. Professor Rank, and Skill Rank for both Byleth and the playable companions, for example.
• Byleth can run around in the Academy and it is easy to reach locations either by sprinting or using the map for teleports.
• Extra activities are so-so. Planting various seeds in the greenhouse, fishing, eating in the Dinner Hall, visiting the Academy's market, monthly Unit tournaments, searching for lost items, inviting unique NPCs for tea time or the Sauna. I haven't upgraded to version 1.2 yet, being on 1.0. Can't tell if the Sauna is weird or not.
• Unique NPCs can be recruited, though story paths can lock them out from it. Be it the choice of House or about half-way through the story.
• Extras in the title menu have a Music Library, Movie Gallery, Event Gallery, Support Conversations, Voiceover Language. All text is in English, Voiceover can be both English or Japanese.

► About Story

• Good world-building.
• There is variety in the story paths. It is recommended to play through them all to get the full story. This can easily take over 100+ hours playing casually.
• It is more of a tragedy than a happy story. Someone will die irrespective of the choice of house.
• It's more mature with the topics it deals. Some NPCs have been traumatized in their past.
• Crimson Flower is the worst story path with how lackluster it is. The others are okay to great.

► About Music

• It's great. Highlight is God Shattering Star.
• There is a Music Bibrary in the game which can be accessed via Extras in its title menu. Songs are unlocked by playing through content their are used for.

► Improvements (Spoilers)

This is rather subjective and do not read if you haven't finished the game.

• They should not have had four story branches half-way through the story. Best to have had Nemesis as final boss, but allowing the player to end the game sooner via a few choices. Same with whom to ally and who dies from that decision.
• Keep the choice to ally with the Empire & Agarthians over the Church of Seiros, Kingdom and Alliance. This requires the protagonist to be sort of corrupted and play a villain. Believable with how Relics came to be. Make Byleth's Crest a bit damaged then. This second path has the player learn way more about the Agarthians than the game does in its current state.
• Give A- to S-Rank support for the house leaders and their 2nd in command in the first half. Allow them to join in the second half. Hilda is the sole current outlier.
• Have the player be more involved as either advisor or leader with how to battle in Fodlan. Make these seconary missions like Paralogues. They help with the final boss fight against Nemesis & the Agarthians.
• Make Sothis look like an adult. (Mod)
• Remove gay stuff. Mainly about Epilogues and S-Rank Supports. (Mod probably)
• Slightly rewrite Sitri's backstory to avoid any association with potential incest.

The problem here is that you have to pic a house very early and then for each ******* playthrough you have to go over the motions at the Academy again and again and again. So, that's 3 times at the very least or 4 times if you go for all the actual available routes.

Yeah, you can skip dialogue but that's still a **** ton of skipping. A lot of maps get reused and the missions get really stale. Blue Lions was my first run and honestly it was great. But after that, I wasn't able to go through the motions again to finish the rest of the routes and ended up starting them but never finishing Verdant Wind or the Seiros route. I did Edelgard because I read it was the shortest one and I couldn't bring myself to do it all over again a 3rd time, never mind a 4th time.

I still think its the best Nu Fe, that is the best Fire Emblem after Awakening happened. But the Academy stuff becomes a huge slog in subsequent playthroughs.

Yes, that is why they should have gone with a single route with more content and the ability to recruit no one up to everyone. Ergo, a rewritten story. A good chance they would have offered more maps and missions then. As it stands, getting the complete lore of the game requires playing through all routes.
Each route has some good elements. Though as you stated, getting there with the first half repeated with minor differences, is quite the slog. Having chosen the Blue Lions, you immediately went with the best route.
The Academy isn't a bad location, it has its charms. The activities there are rather uninteresting if it were not for micro-managing character progressions. Good thing, they aren't big time wasters.
Hopefully, Three Houses gets remade in the future.

For Male Byleth:

Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
Yuri (DLC)
Linhardt

**** these are all gorgeous I'd have no clue who to even pick uh I mean AVOID haha which one has the most content btw so I know which is the most woke and awful?

In terms of content: Linhardt, Yuri, then Jeritza. DLC characters have their own mini-campaign, Cindered Shadows, which can be completed in under 10 hours. Linhardt joins from its Chapter 1, Yuri from Chapter 6. Once completed, the DLC characters are recruitable in the main story from Chapter 2 onwards. Jeritza is only available in one route in the second half, Crimson Flower. It is also the shortest route.
Most woke and awful: Yuri.

-------------------------------------------

I forgot to mention two things with the last post.

• Crests: Bloodline-related and a major plot point as well as a gameplay feature. Mainly inherited from generation to generation within Noble Houses, but only by chance making it important for some minor storylines. It allows those with Crests to wield special weapons, Relics.
• Girlbosses: A few under the companions. Edelgard, Petra, Ingrid, Hilda, Leonie, Catherine. Catherine is the biggest offender. Every other female companion is either a Magic (White, Black, Dark) or Bow user. Most are the former. Can't tell yet how it is with unnamed NPCs, be it Battalions, enemies or others. Will pay attention with the next two routes and report back.

[Cipher]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is one of the better modern entries. It's not as good as it could have been as Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa had to rush it. Still, it's a good game and I have enjoyed it so far. Crimson Flower and Silver Snow done and it gets only better with what remains.

► About degeneracy

There is some degeneracy but it's not front and center and can easily be avoided. It depends on who gets S- and A-Rank support. From having finished both Crimson Flower and Silver Snow, no other characters were gay or lesbian.
A list of bisexual characters:

• For Male Byleth:
  • Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
  • Yuri (DLC)
  • Linhardt
• For Female Byleth:
  • Edelgard
  • Dorothea
  • Mercedes
  • Rhea

The game has a character with the appearance of a loli. The goddess Sothis. You can S-Rank her, but she is a ghost. The associated Epilogues for all four paths just make mentions of how Byleth takes on his new responsibilities as leader.
For incest, arguments can be made for two characters with Byleth, be it male or female. I only want to spoil it insofar that it all depends on the origin of Byleth's mother. It isn't explicitly stated how she is related to the others.
It's a spoiler, but Byleth is 21 years old at the end of the game. The students' age ranges from 15-22 and with the S-Rank Support available during the last mission, they are all over 18. In fact, they are 20-28.

► About Gameplay

Here is a rundown of its elements:

• It differs from other entries that it doesn't have a strict trinity of Sword, Lance and Axe. Instead, it is Axebreaker for Sword B. Swordbreaker for Lance B and Lancebreaker for Axe B. They grant Hit/Avo +20 for e.g. using a sword against an axe user.
• The rank uses ranks for its Skills. They range from E, E+, and so on, up to S+.
• The Skills are: Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, Brawling (Unarmed/Gauntlets), Reason (Black/Dark Magic), Faith (Light Magic), Authority, Heavy Armour, Riding, Flying.
• Certain ranks are required to pass exams to use their associated classes on characters along with their Stat Boni and Stat Growths. There is some variety to it.
• A few Classes are gender-restricted.
• It has a lot of freedom in mixing abilities.
• All playable characters have Maximum Stats making them lean into specific roles. Byleth's is Infantry as Sword user with his special class.
• It has the following Character Stats, besides HP obviously:
  • Strength is for physical damage.
  • Magic for magical damage.
  • Dexterity for Hit and Crit Chance.
  • Speed for Avoidance or Dodge Rate.
  • Luck for a few minor things and reducing Crit Chance from enemies.
  • Defense reduces physical damage. Resilience reduces magical damage.
  • Charm increases Gambit damage from Battalions, their hit chance and avoidance rate.
• There are a few more things which can be viewed in character windows on the battlefield. Attack Speed (AS), Hit Chance, Avoidance Rate, to name a few.
• Battalions can be used to increase various stats and act as bonus actions. This allows for further customization. They can run away from a battle if the characters they are used on are damaged enough, but can be replenished after.
• The game has three difficulties, with the third having been implemented with a patch in 2020. Normal, Hard and Maddening.
• Two modi: Classic for permadeath and Casual without it so they retreat from the battle.
• Has New Game+. It unlocks a few things and allows the player to spend Renown on various stuff. Professor Rank, and Skill Rank for both Byleth and the playable companions, for example.
• Byleth can run around in the Academy and it is easy to reach locations either by sprinting or using the map for teleports.
• Extra activities are so-so. Planting various seeds in the greenhouse, fishing, eating in the Dinner Hall, visiting the Academy's market, monthly Unit tournaments, searching for lost items, inviting unique NPCs for tea time or the Sauna. I haven't upgraded to version 1.2 yet, being on 1.0. Can't tell if the Sauna is weird or not.
• Unique NPCs can be recruited, though story paths can lock them out from it. Be it the choice of House or about half-way through the story.
• Extras in the title menu have a Music Library, Movie Gallery, Event Gallery, Support Conversations, Voiceover Language. All text is in English, Voiceover can be both English or Japanese.

► About Story

• Good world-building.
• There is variety in the story paths. It is recommended to play through them all to get the full story. This can easily take over 100+ hours playing casually.
• It is more of a tragedy than a happy story. Someone will die irrespective of the choice of house.
• It's more mature with the topics it deals. Some NPCs have been traumatized in their past.
• Crimson Flower is the worst story path with how lackluster it is. The others are okay to great.

► About Music

• It's great. Highlight is God Shattering Star.
• There is a Music Bibrary in the game which can be accessed via Extras in its title menu. Songs are unlocked by playing through content their are used for.

► Improvements (Spoilers)

This is rather subjective and do not read if you haven't finished the game.

• They should not have had four story branches half-way through the story. Best to have had Nemesis as final boss, but allowing the player to end the game sooner via a few choices. Same with whom to ally and who dies from that decision.
• Keep the choice to ally with the Empire & Agarthians over the Church of Seiros, Kingdom and Alliance. This requires the protagonist to be sort of corrupted and play a villain. Believable with how Relics came to be. Make Byleth's Crest a bit damaged then. This second path has the player learn way more about the Agarthians than the game does in its current state.
• Give A- to S-Rank support for the house leaders and their 2nd in command in the first half. Allow them to join in the second half. Hilda is the sole current outlier.
• Have the player be more involved as either advisor or leader with how to battle in Fodlan. Make these seconary missions like Paralogues. They help with the final boss fight against Nemesis & the Agarthians.
• Make Sothis look like an adult. (Mod)
• Remove gay stuff. Mainly about Epilogues and S-Rank Supports. (Mod probably)
• Slightly rewrite Sitri's backstory to avoid any association with potential incest.

The problem here is that you have to pic a house very early and then for each ******* playthrough you have to go over the motions at the Academy again and again and again. So, that's 3 times at the very least or 4 times if you go for all the actual available routes.

Yeah, you can skip dialogue but that's still a **** ton of skipping. A lot of maps get reused and the missions get really stale. Blue Lions was my first run and honestly it was great. But after that, I wasn't able to go through the motions again to finish the rest of the routes and ended up starting them but never finishing Verdant Wind or the Seiros route. I did Edelgard because I read it was the shortest one and I couldn't bring myself to do it all over again a 3rd time, never mind a 4th time.

I still think its the best Nu Fe, that is the best Fire Emblem after Awakening happened. But the Academy stuff becomes a huge slog in subsequent playthroughs.

Yes, that is why they should have gone with a single route with more content and the ability to recruit no one up to everyone. Ergo, a rewritten story. A good chance they would have offered more maps and missions then. As it stands, getting the complete lore of the game requires playing through all routes.
Each route has some good elements. Though as you stated, getting there with the first half repeated with minor differences, is quite the slog. Having chosen the Blue Lions, you immediately went with the best route.
The Academy isn't a bad location, it has its charms. The activities there are rather uninteresting if it were not for micro-managing character progressions. Good thing, they aren't big time wasters.
Hopefully, Three Houses gets remade in the future.

For Male Byleth:

Jeritza (Patch 1.1 or 1.2)
Yuri (DLC)
Linhardt

**** these are all gorgeous I'd have no clue who to even pick uh I mean AVOID haha which one has the most content btw so I know which is the most woke and awful?

In terms of content: Linhardt, Yuri, then Jeritza. DLC characters have their own mini-campaign, Cindered Shadows, which can be completed in under 10 hours. Linhardt joins from its Chapter 1, Yuri from Chapter 6. Once completed, the DLC characters are recruitable in the main story from Chapter 2 onwards. Jeritza is only available in one route in the second half, Crimson Flower. It is also the shortest route.
Most woke and awful: Yuri.

-------------------------------------------

I forgot to mention two things with the last post.

• Crests: Bloodline-related and a major plot point as well as a gameplay feature. Mainly inherited from generation to generation within Noble Houses, but only by chance making it important for some minor storylines. It allows those with Crests to wield special weapons, Relics.
• Girlbosses: A few under the companions. Edelgard, Petra, Ingrid, Hilda, Leonie, Catherine. Catherine is the biggest offender. Every other female companion is either a Magic (White, Black, Dark) or Bow user. Most are the former. Can't tell yet how it is with unnamed NPCs, be it Battalions, enemies or others. Will pay attention with the next two routes and report back.

That's another thing. I didn't knew the Blue Lions was the best one, I just thought Dimitri was the best character from the 3 lords and that he would make a good Bro. The very fact that everyone praises that route over the others is also a huge failing of the writing and the game by proxy. They just bit more than they could chew. And sure, the micromanagement of the students at the Academy is not necessary on Easy and is less of a factor on Normal if you use good tactics, but anything above and your system mastery becomes more and more important to the point that you are not a veteran of FE you will have to engage with it and it just takes soooo much time.

It was fine the very first run. I still thought it was a little too much time spent at the Academy but then again that was my choice as I wanted to get good supports and train the students to the fullest to give the game a fair shake and engage with all of its systems. But I didn't realized that the heavy time investment was going to be such a detriment for subsequent playthroughs.

I really miss the old style, where it was just Map > Scene with dialogue > Preparations screen > Map. No grinding, no time wasted. Just pure grid based tactics gameplay with actual stakes due to permadeath with some fantasy anime cheesey dialogue sprinkled in between.

[Vergil]

Most woke and awful: Yuri.

What makes him the most woke?

[rusty_shackleford]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

[Oyster Sauce]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Two Worlds came out a bit earlier, although you do it to upgrade your weapons/armor rather than repairing them.

[maidenhaver]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Rome Total War let you combine depleted units.

[Irenaeus]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Rome Total War let you combine depleted units.

The second one? I don't remember that on the first.

[rusty_shackleford]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Are there any other RPGs where you can get an identical drop to what you're using and be happy about it?
It's an elegant solution to a fairly frequent problem I see popup a lot.

Not referring to something like an online game where you have an expensive item and you get another and go "oh yeah I can sell that for a lot".

[maidenhaver]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Rome Total War let you combine depleted units.

The second one? I don't remember that on the first.

Its in the first.

[DagothGeas5]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Are there any other RPGs where you can get an identical drop to what you're using and be happy about it?
It's an elegant solution to a fairly frequent problem I see popup a lot.

Not referring to something like an online game where you have an expensive item and you get another and go "oh yeah I can sell that for a lot".

I unfortunatly do not recall what the game was, but I dearly loved that mechanic. I recall it was a sort of "drag and drop" to repair a weapon in the game I played. The item had either numbers or, how I recall it, a durability bar, and dropping items onto one another would restore said bar by a percentage. There was also a skill, repair or something tech based maybe, that would allow for more bar being restored. I am unsure if it's Fallout, but I wanted to say as I truly do not recall and it might jog someone's memory if someone knows of the game I am speaking about. I recall next to nothing other than that system about it, not even the types of weapons.

[logincrash]

Being able to cannibalize weapons — either identical or similar enough — to repair your weapon was a really cool idea. Dunno if it originated with Fallout 3, but it's the first game I can think of with it.
It's something that fits into that specific setting very well.

Are there any other RPGs where you can get an identical drop to what you're using and be happy about it?
It's an elegant solution to a fairly frequent problem I see popup a lot.

Not referring to something like an online game where you have an expensive item and you get another and go "oh yeah I can sell that for a lot".

I unfortunatly do not recall what the game was, but I dearly loved that mechanic. I recall it was a sort of "drag and drop" to repair a weapon in the game I played. The item had either numbers or, how I recall it, a durability bar, and dropping items onto one another would restore said bar by a percentage. There was also a skill, repair or something tech based maybe, that would allow for more bar being restored. I am unsure if it's Fallout, but I wanted to say as I truly do not recall and it might jog someone's memory if someone knows of the game I am speaking about. I recall next to nothing other than that system about it, not even the types of weapons.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas' weapon repair system functions exactly like that except for the drag and drop part. It's just a scrollable list of items you can use to repair (guns to repair guns, armor to repair armor, repair kits to repair everything).

[Kowe]

That's another thing. I didn't knew the Blue Lions was the best one, I just thought Dimitri was the best character from the 3 lords and that he would make a good Bro. The very fact that everyone praises that route over the others is also a huge failing of the writing and the game by proxy. They just bit more than they could chew. And sure, the micromanagement of the students at the Academy is not necessary on Easy and is less of a factor on Normal if you use good tactics, but anything above and your system mastery becomes more and more important to the point that you are not a veteran of FE you will have to engage with it and it just takes soooo much time.

It was fine the very first run. I still thought it was a little too much time spent at the Academy but then again that was my choice as I wanted to get good supports and train the students to the fullest to give the game a fair shake and engage with all of its systems. But I didn't realized that the heavy time investment was going to be such a detriment for subsequent playthroughs.

I really miss the old style, where it was just Map > Scene with dialogue > Preparations screen > Map. No grinding, no time wasted. Just pure grid based tactics gameplay with actual stakes due to permadeath with some fantasy anime cheesey dialogue sprinkled in between.

It gets easier with New Game+ as you do not have to grind Professor or Skill levels when you can spend Renown on them. Either patch 1.10 or 1.20 added 10k to each NG+ save. Support Ranks are rewatchable under Extras anyway but can also be unlocked with Renown.
Micro-managing things at the Academy is not really necessary on Hard either. You can stick to a few characters for battles and make them into powerhouses, while missing some content. It requires knowledge of the gameplay systems and how to best train them. That's good. It rewards learning. Even without learning much, going for the canon classes of the characters is good enough. Canon classes are shown with post time-skip costumes in the Certifications menu.
Skill and Support levels get raised in Battles too, which is especially good in conjunction with Mission Assistance. B-Rank support can easily be reached with a companion from the other house, making it more or less an auto-joining.
From the Academy, only the market, its additional shops and the Dining Hall are crucial.

I agree though. Given the game has a substantial amount of filler, it would have benefited from the old style. A solution is intermission screens with Academy background and the extra activities chooseable from the menu.

What makes him the most woke?

Linhardt is funny at times and looks and acts rather normal. Easiest to make straight.
Jeritza can only be interacted with for a very short time. 6 Chapters. Mentally twisted by his past traumas and creepy with his desire to kill Byleth after the war. Romance is explicitly expressed only with his S-Rank Support.
Yuri looks androgynous and has another character's animations making him effiminate. Has to get a new model and new animations.

[Cipher]

That's another thing. I didn't knew the Blue Lions was the best one, I just thought Dimitri was the best character from the 3 lords and that he would make a good Bro. The very fact that everyone praises that route over the others is also a huge failing of the writing and the game by proxy. They just bit more than they could chew. And sure, the micromanagement of the students at the Academy is not necessary on Easy and is less of a factor on Normal if you use good tactics, but anything above and your system mastery becomes more and more important to the point that you are not a veteran of FE you will have to engage with it and it just takes soooo much time.

It was fine the very first run. I still thought it was a little too much time spent at the Academy but then again that was my choice as I wanted to get good supports and train the students to the fullest to give the game a fair shake and engage with all of its systems. But I didn't realized that the heavy time investment was going to be such a detriment for subsequent playthroughs.

I really miss the old style, where it was just Map > Scene with dialogue > Preparations screen > Map. No grinding, no time wasted. Just pure grid based tactics gameplay with actual stakes due to permadeath with some fantasy anime cheesey dialogue sprinkled in between.

It gets easier with New Game+ as you do not have to grind Professor or Skill levels when you can spend Renown on them. Either patch 1.10 or 1.20 added 10k to each NG+ save. Support Ranks are rewatchable under Extras anyway but can also be unlocked with Renown.
Micro-managing things at the Academy is not really necessary on Hard either. You can stick to a few characters for battles and make them into powerhouses, while missing some content. It requires knowledge of the gameplay systems and how to best train them. That's good. It rewards learning. Even without learning much, going for the canon classes of the characters is good enough. Canon classes are shown with post time-skip costumes in the Certifications menu.
Skill and Support levels get raised in Battles too, which is especially good in conjunction with Mission Assistance. B-Rank support can easily be reached with a companion from the other house, making it more or less an auto-joining.
From the Academy, only the market, its additional shops and the Dining Hall are crucial.

I agree though. Given the game has a substantial amount of filler, it would have benefited from the old style. A solution is intermission screens with Academy background and the extra activities chooseable from the menu.

What makes him the most woke?

Linhardt is funny at times and looks and acts rather normal. Easiest to make straight.
Jeritza can only be interacted with for a very short time. 6 Chapters. Mentally twisted by his past traumas and creepy with his desire to kill Byleth after the war. Romance is explicitly expressed only with his S-Rank Support.
Yuri looks androgynous and has another character's animations making him effiminate. Has to get a new model and new animations.

At the end of the day, I'll rather the games be light on story and be more about gameplay. Let's be honest, at their very BEST, the writing is still painfully obvious and filled with fantasy anime cheese. I say embrace it and keep giving us solid gameplay instead of trying to chase the Persona crowd with all these "activities". Engage has fun gameplay and map design, but the "Somniel" is such a bore and a chore that really brings it down, that the writing is one of the worst in the series also doesn't help.

Sure, 3 Houses had better writing than any other Nu FE, but it still wasn't really original or impressive. I'll take Binding Blade or New Mystery, as bare bones as the story was, over this dating sim/Persona style of hybrid. Fire Emblem is at its best when the gameplay rocks. The story is just to give the gameplay some rhyme and reason. But then again, Awakening is the game that broke the mold in terms of popularity so I guess I am no longer the "target audience" that Fire Emblem devs care to cater to, which is fine.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

But then again, Awakening is the game that broke the mold in terms of popularity so I guess I am no longer the "target audience" that Fire Emblem devs care to cater to, which is fine.

This can honestly be said to lot of franchises that hit it big when they did a big shake up to a series.

[Cipher]

But then again, Awakening is the game that broke the mold in terms of popularity so I guess I am no longer the "target audience" that Fire Emblem devs care to cater to, which is fine.

This can honestly be said to lot of franchises that hit it big when they did a big shake up to a series.

Yeah, and that's usually when I take my leave and stop playing. I gave the Switch games a fair shake first of all because I was emulating them for free but also because we hadn't had a console release since the gamecube. But it is clear to me Awakening style Nu FE is here to stay and I am OK with that. Plenty of games to play in my free time.

[rusty_shackleford]

Disappointed to learn the Fighting Fantasy Classics game on Steam has no voiceover for the book text.

Guess it would probably cost too much for how cheap they are.

[psychic_dream]

What are the real-life races and traditions analogous to those in The Witcher universe?

[DagothGeas5]

What are the real-life races and traditions analogous to those in The Witcher universe?

Not sure for races, but for traditions I can tell you that there is a lot of Polish folklore and tales sprinkled in, so many that it would be too many to list them. I myself played in Polish every single game of the Witcher (Wiedzmin) and the translation often doesn't do justice to what is being said. For example, a lot, if not all, of the quests that might be strange or silly were actually often callbacks to something that might be folklore, tradition and similar, with every song being sang being a lyric-changed version of a real Polish folksong.
To give one specific example, in Wiedzmin 2 there is a song that can be heard sung in a tavern by a drunkard. Not sure how it was translated as I do not recall, but the original was telling how a girl went to the woods and found a squirrel (which, in this case, is an euphemism for the Scoiatel elves). It ends abruptly with the drunkard possibly changing the lyrics and saying they ****** in the woods, but the melody is this folk song (the favourite to be sung by drunkards I've been told. I personally sung it with an old lady I cared for dearly and it was a lot of fun )


Another one would be this one, but I couldn't say what this one's real life counterpart is called. I recognized them all right away though so truly, it would be just too much for me to list (again, also, the lyrics are changed but the melody remains. From my understanding of Polish they are VERY crude and very humorous because of it XD )

[psychic_dream]

What went wrong with Final Fantasy XV? I haven’t had the chance to play it yet. From what I’ve seen, it has the same problem as Final Fantasy VII Remake—noticeable aliasing around fine details, to the point where it’s jarring to look at.