Hurst Hot Take: “Fire Emblem: Three Houses”

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Bella Lee, Staff writer

I am not lying when I say I am not a hardcore gamer. As the only girl with three brothers, I have been more than exposed to video games, but I would not say I am an extreme gamer or anything along those lines. I am typically more of a casual gamer, limiting myself to playing Just Dance on the Wii (yes, my family still owns a Wii) or playing “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” on the Nintendo Switch with my brothers.

However, over the course of my time in college, that has changed a little bit. My boyfriend and I have a running joke that whenever he gets stuck on a game, I come to the rescue and manage to get him unstuck. This began last spring when he got stuck on a game called “Jump
Force” (similar to “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” but with anime characters). I offered to try out the game, and, within 4 days, I defeated the
final boss. This has since occurred with a few other games, so I am glad I can be of service.

Just a few days ago, my boyfriend got a game called “Fire Emblem: Three Houses.” “Fire Emblem” is a video game franchise stylized as an RPG (role-playing game) that has been running for over 30 years, with “Three Houses,” the sixteenth and newest installment, coming out in 2019.

“Three Houses” centers around the protagonist, named Byleth, who lives on the continent of Fódlan. You can change Byleth’s name in the game as you wish, and Byleth can be played in a male or female “form”, as the game puts it. Byleth has a type of conscience character, named Sothis, who appears as a youthful, sprite-like girl. Sothis helps Byleth learn about the ways of the world they live in, from daily life to combat.

In this iteration of the game, Byleth has been hired as a professor at the Garreg Mach Monastery, home of the Church of Seiros and the Officers Academy. Lady Rhea, the archbishop of the church, lets Byleth choose to teach one of three classes, or “houses” as the game implies. These include the Black Eagles, consisting of students from the Adrestian Empire and led by Edelgard, the princess of the Empire; the Blue Lions, consisting of students from the Kingdom of Faerghus and led by Dimitri, the prince of the Kingdom and the Golden Deer, consisting of students from Leicester Alliance and led by Claude, the heir of the main house within the Alliance.

Since my boyfriend has not had this game for long, this is about as much as we know. However, it is a very fun game so far, even for someone like me who is not the one usually playing the game (until he gets stuck that is) and is also not much into RPGs (bring out the pitchforks and torches, but I have never been interested in learning Dungeons & Dragons). We have been jokingly calling the game another version of “Harry Potter” since characters within the game are placed into different houses.

I feel like the “Fire Emblem” series is deeply underappreciated, as most people only know the series from characters that can be played in the “Super Smash Bros.” franchise (Byleth, alongside Marth, Roy, Ike, Chrom, Lucina, Robin, and Corrin, are all playable characters in “Super Smash Bros.” that originate from “Fire Emblem” games). The best thing about the “Fire Emblem” games, additionally, are that they do not have to be played in a certain order. This is my first exposure to any of their games, and I can not wait to find out what happens later on in the game.

This game has great storylines and is very engaging; you could play for hours without noticing. Have fun, and happy gaming!