Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

[Use the Falchion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZyZB-Zjxxo

 

So, apparently, we're getting a new sort of sequel/potential Cosmic retcon of Three Houses in the Warriors style. What you y'all think of this?

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

Given that through Divine Pulse multiple timelines are quire plausible, I'm viewing this as simply 'another route' the story could have gone. Now granted, I don't know if there will be multiple campaigns within this game, but at least one route seems like a potential 'golden' route. 

Personally, I'm excited. With the high quality story that Breath of the Wild's Warriors style spin-off gave us, I'm fairly confident that we'll be in good hands. 

[Use the Falchion]

My own thoughts, after sleeping on it, I'm feeling a lot more excited about this idea than yesterday. I'm generally not a fan of sequels erasing the choices/decisions/consequences of previous games, but since Three Houses has a Time-Reversal mechanic built in, it's not too bit of a leap. 

 

My personal theory is that Byleth isn't the one to rewind time. Someone else does, and Byleth, having a similar power, remembers what happens in the future and is now working to avert that fate. This doesn't go as planned, and while things seem to be going down the same route as before, now two (or maybe, depending on a route, all three) House Leaders will team up to change their fate. YES, I THINK THIS WILL BE THE SILVER ROUTES PATH I HAVE BEEN PROMOTING FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. 

My evidence for this is scant, but I think certain lines of dialogue and scenes in the trailer hint at this being the case: We see Claude and Dimitri fighting in one scene while being back-to-back in another. I think this might come from two different paths, one where Claude is still the enemy and one - probably Dimitri's - where Claude and Dimitri team up. A different path sees Claude team up with Edelgard, once he explains to her (as said in the trailer), "I have ambitions, Edelgard. Real ones." 

We also have scenes where Edelgard fights Judith (associated with the Alliance and thus the Golden Deer) and one where Dimitri fights...someone who is from the Empire. Breaking it down, we have at least five paths so far then: 

Edelgard vs the Alliance:

Dimitri vs the Empire:

Dimitri and Claude together:

Dimitri vs Claude:

Edelgard vs Dimitri interrupted by Claude: (Golden Route?)

 

There's also a theory that Byleth wasn't asleep during the time-skip this time around; so this is the same events from the first game, but because Byleth is awake, she can change things. 

 

Other notes: Jeralt seems to be getting up from his death, which raises a LOT of questions as to whether someone changed it or revived the Bladebreaker after he had originally died. 

We see something splitting a beam from Rhea's Dragon form into two. Of course, Rhea will be an enemy during this game, but is that a scene from the final part of the game, or just an alternate route?

Hubert was obviously seen in the trailer, but apparently Hilda was there also! So, we're probably going to get at least our House Leaders and their retainers as playable characters. Here's to hoping we get everyone else!

FE Warriors had longer single support conversations than most FE games up to that time, and they focused on characters who didn't support each other in their own games (Hinoka & Elise, Camilla & Sakura, Chrom & Owain, Lissa & Lucina) or crossover supports. If the trend continues, then we'll probably see some supports from characters who have already supported each other, such as the Retainers, but more from those who haven't. I can't say for sure what we'll see, but I can hope for:

The House Lords (Dimitri/Claude, Dimitri/Edelgard, Edelgard/Claude)

Ignatz & Sylvain - Art Bros

Ashe & Bernadetta - Hoodie Duo

Dimitri & Dorothea - She's good friends with Ingrid and can marry Dimitri's other two childhood friends. I find it weird that these two don't support each other. 

Claude & Dedue - Foreign Bros

Petra & Dedue - Foreigners Unite!

Marianne & Dorothea - If only as an allusion to Marianne's popularity as a Dancer 

Dorothea & Shamir - The first game had Matt Mercer talking to himself with Chrom & Ryoma, why not do so again? (And then do the same with Greg Chun in an Ephraim/Ike Support in a proper Warriors 2?)

Seteth & Shamir - Seteth can support every other church member but her and Rhea. That needs to be rectified. 

Serenes Forest also has a great breakdown of the trailer, so check that out too! 

 

Overall, like how Persona 5 Strikers and Age of Calamity were received, I can imagine this being a gem and a nice sequel for those who play it and choose to view it as such.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[Use the Falchion]

Nearly two months since the game was announced, and a little over two months since launch* and we've had nary a peek at the game...until now. Earlier today, Amazon Japan's page for Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes updated with some new screenshots! Despite very little being given, the shots hold some tantalizing pieces of information. 

 

https://twitter.com/SerenesForest/status/1512451692578619394/photo/2

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/tz5zr6/new_3_hopes_screenshots/

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B09X1P12WX/ref=sr_1_18?crid=2A51NO3HFLPZG

 

In the first photo we see Mercedes and Dimitri sharing a meal with Mr. Purple Hair at a location that is noticeably not Garrag Mach Monastery. The next one shows us the overview battle map with some sprites of allies. These all give us some concrete information alongside stuff we can't really parse out yet. 

 

Concrete Information:

• Mercedes in the game! Contrary to what some might think, this wasn't a guarantee. Mercedes to many was on the chopping block of Blue Lions characters in terms of playability. The general consensus was that each house would be given at minimum four units - the House Leader (confirmed), the vassal (Hubert and Hilda confirmed, with Dedue being highly speculated), and two other popular characters. For the Blue Loins, it was Felix and Ingrid, with Sylvain in third. Ashe, Mercedes, and Annette were all toss-ups after that. Seeing Mercedes in the game could mean that either many lists were wrong about who's in the game, or everyone who was previously playable has returned.**
• Purple Hair is playable. We see him hold the position that Byleth usually does, eating with students and being the main character for certain parts of the stage. Byleth is nowhere to be found in these pictures, and that raises a lot of flags and warning signs. Is Byleth asleep, like in Three Houses, and Purple Hair is filling in? Is this mysterious person the Player Character this time around, while Byleth is the enemy? Or is it something else?***
• Meals are returning, and they won't just be at Garrag Mach. Incidentally, this matches up with a disproven "leak" from late February. In that "leak" there were mentions of supports and a new mobile area that we can see part of in the promotional material. The "leak" had some pretty interesting other stuff too, but the leaker was positive that we'd get a media blowout in March, something that clearly didn't happen. The leak may be false, but the inclusion of supports and a non-Garrag Mach base seemed to be completely right. I'll keep an eye out for any other confirmations from the leak, but we can chalk this one up to good luck and solid guessing, or maybe access to game testing. 

Non-Concrete Information: 

• On the maps, we have blue pixel icons that tell us who is an ally and who is an enemy. We have several allies on the map, but it's impossible to tell who is who just yet. I've seen guesses for Ashe, Byleth, or even a new character. I could even potentially see Felix in one of them! But we'll have to wait for more information to see. 

 

Overall, just four new pictures gave us quite a bit to talk about! Hopefully we'll see some more screenshots and videos soon. A couple of screenshots, a trailer or two to go, and a Nintendo E3 Treehouse, and we should be ready to go by the time this game comes out! (Hopefully. Three Houses only had the February 2019 trailer and the E3 blowout IRRC with weekly character bios, but I think Echoes had a few trailers.)

 

 

*roughly 80 days since announcement and almost 80 days until launch

**I've been partial to this since the beginning, but it's not hard to see it the other way either. 

***My crackpot theory today is that Purple Hair joins the opposite group that Byleth does. So, if Byleth in this case joined the Black Eagles, the Purple Hair joined the Blue Lions. This will lead to having players control two different and opposing groups, not unlike Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. This would also determine who joins the player on the "Golden Route" first. 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[Use the Falchion]

The marketing push has officially begun! This morning, a little over an hour ago, we got a new trailer for the game! 

In it, we see that our new Purple Haired protagonist is a mercenary named "Shez" and they are (because players can pick between male and female, although it looks like M!Shez is the default version) taking the place of Byleth, or rather, the Ashen Demon, at the monastery. This change will have ripple effects that sends Fodlan into a new age. We also see various clips of gameplay, some clips of cutscenes, and a few menus and screens!

 

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - Mysterious Mercenary Trailer - Nintendo Switch - YouTube

 

We now also have confirmation that Dedue, Lorenz, and Ferdinand (seen briefly in :55 I believe) are in the game and playable. Hilda's look is officially confirmed as well. Monica is also playable, but which Monica is still unclear. We also see a few new characters as well. We see a Wyvern-riding Almyran who might be their king and a legendary pink-haired warrior fighting a blue-haired older man (theorized to be Holst and Caspar's father respectively). So, if we're getting new NPCs, maybe the old ones wlll become playable?

 

Battalions, Adjutants, and Meals are all returning, although we knew about the last one due to the above leaks. Class changes are also returning. 

 

We also know have confirmation that this game will have (at least) three different routes: 

Scarlet Blaze, Edelgard's route. 

Azure Gleam, Dimitri's route. 

Golden Wildfire, Claude's route. 

There's no mention of a church route, but Flayn is briefly seen and heard in the game, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. (I've seen some theorizing that the Church will be the ultimate antagonist for the game, and I really hope Three Hopes doesn't do that. It's so tropey and not very fun. Three Houses did it well enough, so maybe I should have more faith in the game, but the fanbase doesn't necessarily inspire faith...) 

 

The final bit of the trailer allows players to choose Byleth's gender (confirming that M!Byleth is indeed in the game), but I'm not sure if this is just for flavor text or if they'll be playable. 

 

But this wasn't the only bit of information about the game released! The Japanese Fire Emblem Warriors account started posting bios! I'm far too lazy to do the translation, so all credit goes to the fans and workers at Serenes Forest for the translations

『ファイアーエムブレム無双 風花雪月』公式 on Twitter: "【キャラクター】 主人公 CV：#畠中祐、#富田美憂 天涯孤独の傭兵。 剣で身を立てるべく気を吐いていたが、とある仕事でジェラルト傭兵団と遭遇。“灰色の悪魔”に敗北を喫する。雪辱を果たすため修業していたところ、森の中で士官学校の生徒たちと遭遇する。 #FE無双風花雪月 #FE無双 https://t.co/BJ1mJ2px9N" / Twitter

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemMusou/status/151A mercenary with no relatives. They're determined to make it in the world through their blades, but encountered Jeralt's Mercenaries on a certain job. Lost in a fight to the Ashen Demon. While training to take revenge, they meet students from Garegg Mach in the forest.3884643602296832?cxt=HHwWgMCrzf-Ds4IqAAAA

 

According to the fans and translators, Shez's bio reads:

Quote

A mercenary with no relatives. They're determined to make it in the world through their blades, but encountered Jeralt's Mercenaries on a certain job. Lost in a fight to the Ashen Demon. While training to take revenge, they meet students from Garegg Mach in the forest.

This lines up with what is shown in the trailer. 

 

We also got the bio for the unnamed deity who seems to be helping Shez on their journey - "Larva." Since the names and bios haven't been released in English yet, I can't say if that's how it'll be pronounced or read, but the Katakana (La-Ru-Ba) does line up. (Someone is saying that the website is pronouncing it Arval, but I can't find the Japanese website to confirm that at this time.)

https://twitter.com/FireEmblemMusou/status/1513889676687421442?cxt=HHwWhMCtgfuotYIqAAAA

『ファイアーエムブレム無双 風花雪月』公式 on Twitter: "【キャラクター】 #ラルヴァ CV：#田村睦心 主人公の夢に現れた不思議な存在。 “灰色の悪魔”によって命を落としかけた主人公を謎の力で救うと、まるで頭の中に住まうかの如く語りかけてくるようになる。 時折、何かが欠落しているかのような素振りを見せる。 #FE無双風花雪月 #FE無双 https://t.co/FTudfMYJrb" / Twitter

"Larva's" Bio reads:

Quote

A mysterious being that appeared in the protagonist's dreams.
Saved the protagonist just as they were about to lose their life to the Ashen Demon, and talks to them as if living in the protagonist's head. Sometimes behaves as if something is missing.

Clearly this character is the Sothis to Shez's Byleth, but is there something more? There are still so many questions!

 

 

 

Ultimately, we got a lot of information this morning, and it's just what the doctor ordered! Due to the new characters and haircuts, we may even see more character bios in the upcoming weeks. I know Three Houses did 2-3 a week if I remember correctly. I don't imagine that will be the case here, but I can see one or two bios a week, each for a new main character or so. 

 

Anyways, I'll keep y'all informed!

[Use the Falchion]

And the bios keep coming!

First up, though, a correction. Yesterday I made a note that someone said the website was using the name "Arval" for English and "Larva" for Japanese, but we stuck with Larva. Today, after visiting the website myself, I can confirm that it is indeed Arval. As such, we'll be sticking with that from now on. 

 

Now, today's bio is Hubert's. There's nothing really new there, but we do see a nice HD version of his headshot. 

According to Redditor SatsumaFS, who I believe did the translations for the Three Houses bios a few years ago, Hubert's Bio reads:

Quote

Eldest son of the Vestra family of Adrestia, and has served as Edelgard's retainer since childhood. He shares his lady's goals, and would use any method to make them a reality. He seems cold, but hides fiery passion in his heart.

『ファイアーエムブレム無双 風花雪月』公式 on Twitter: "【キャラクター】 #ヒューベルト CV：#小西克幸 アドラステア帝国の貴族・ベストラ侯爵家の嫡子にして、幼少時からエーデルガルトに仕える腹心。 彼女と目的を同じくし、その実現のためにはどのような手段も厭わない。冷徹に見えるが、心には激情を秘めている。 #FE無双風花雪月 #FE無双 https://t.co/GWXoNSvBRU" / Twitter

Hubert's design looks far less "obviously evil" here and more akin to "going through an Emo phase." I like it all the same, but it's pretty amusing to me nonetheless. 

Now, none of the above is new, but I do hope someday we can see Hubert's siblings - he's the eldest son, not the only child!

 

Anyways, that's the bio for today. Let's see if they're releasing bios every day until the release, or if this is a couple times a week thing. If it's the former, the roster is going to be a LOT bigger than what I think most expected. If it's a few every week, then it would be roughly the same size as expected. We have roughly ten weeks until the game's release. If we got a bio every weekday, that'd give us roughly 50 characters - the 34 playable characters from Three Houses (subbing Byleth out for Shez at this point in time), plus Monica, Judith, Rodrigue, and Randolph as seen in the game to bring us up to 38, plus Holst, that Almyran, and possibly Caspar's father to bring us up to 41, and it's not impossible to stretch a little more to get up to 50 or so. (Add Byleth back in, and make Ladislava, Rhea, Jeralt, and the Ashen Wolves playable, and you're closer to 50 than ever before.) Otherwise, if it's usually on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday like for Three Houses, then we could just see all the regulars return and split it up by house + Church. 

Either way, we'll soon find out!

 

EDIT: Serenesforest has a great breakdown of the trailer along with some released interview snippets that add more context to the story. One major piece is that Shez actually encountered Byleth a year before the story of Three Houses, and spent that year honing their skill for a rematch. Then, they saved the House Lords from some bandits and ultimately ended up joining Garrag Mach as a student. So the purple-haired person talking to Edelgard in the first trailer is most likely Shez. (I CALLED THIS! PEOPLE THOUGHT IT WAS LORENZ BUT I WAS NEVER CONVINCED!). 

There are some other good breakdowns making their way through YouTube as well. I highly recommend PhoenixMaster1's video. 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[Use the Falchion]

Happy Friday! 

Last night I had a dream that there were secret characters in Three Houses that we were all forgetting about, and that these characters would make an appearance in Three Hopes alongside the new characters and now-playable NPCs, bolstering the roster to the 50s. Alas, it was just a dream. 

Still, we have two more bios and an update from me. 

With the bios, since they seem to be the same as with Three Houses (and the minimal traffic on this thread), I'll just be linking the pictures unless there's new information in the bio. 

 

So for now, enjoy the new time-skip pictures of Dedue and Hilda! 

 

 

Both have some nice quality art, and Hilda is looking cute as always, but I think Dedue's beard wins it for me. I have no idea what has happened, and if the rumors that this story actually takes place in 3-4 years instead of 5, I'll find it hilarious that Dedue looks OLDER with less time passing. Our boy has been through some things! It's like they forgot he was 18/19 in the first game and just channeled his inner middle-aged man. Granted, he still looks old in his previous time-skip design due to his scars, but that beard is really making him look even older. 

If y'all want, I'm willing to put the old and new time-skip designs side-by-side so it's easier to see which you may like better. I'll do so in the spoiler section for now, but let me know of y'all want it that way going forward every time I can also probably shrink the pre-timeskip, new-timeskip, and post-timeskip pictures down to being side-by-side so we can see some Pokemon-esque evolution going on.

 

Lastly, the update. Since the bios for old characters aren't giving us new information, I may just save all of the new pictures until the end of the week and put them on here then. Of course, if there's another trailer, different stills, or even a demo* then I'll upload the pictures with those updates, and then relay how or when I'll upload the rest of the week's pictures. For example, if we get another trailer this upcoming Tuesday, then I'd upload the Monday and Tuesday pictures with the trailer and analysis, and then wait until Friday to upload the rest of the pictures. If a trailer drops on Wednesday, then I'd upload the Monday-Wednesday pictures, and wait until the next Friday to upload the Thursday/Friday pictures. But it also depends on the characters. If we get new characters with new information, then bios may go up daily. We'll just have to wait and see. 

That's it for now though! Next week we should have some new pictures, so I'll see y'all next Friday!

Bonus: Since I like to speculate, I think we'll see Ferdinand or Dorothea on Monday, Felix or Mercedes on Tuesday, and Lysithea on Wednesday. The Black Eagles we didn't get on Monday will appear on Thursday (well, either them or Monica), and on Friday we'll get Felix, Ingrid, or Mercedes. I think the game will want to give us the new photos for confirmed characters first, but they can only really do that partially for Black Eagles with Monica and Ferdinand (if the speculation about his hair appearing in the trailers is correct) and for the Blue Lions with Mercedes. Sure, they can give us a bio for Flayn or any of the members of the Church, but they've been going in the order of houses at this time, so I think they'll save the church for last.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

*Age of Calamity had a demo release about a month before the game's launch. If Three Hopes does also, we'd see it launch next month. However, Persona 5 Strikers didn't have any sort of demo release for American/Western audiences, so who knows. Then again, the game was out for a hair over a year in Japan before it came to the states. Age of Calamity had a global release like Three Hopes, so maybe we'll see one!

[Use the Falchion]

So, I know I said I'd do updates weekly, but I got busy and the FEW Twitter had very bad daily updates. They ranged from restating information to reminding us of release dates and specialty items we can't get in the West to...well, really nothing updates honestly. 

 

But that changed this week and most certainly today. We'll start with the Big Thing first. We have a new trailer! It's a quick teaser of the Blue Lions houses and their new designs, but hey, everyone's there! That means that every member of all three houses is all but guaranteed in the game! (Including Flayn since she was spotted and heard in the trailer.) 

Watch the trailer and see your favorite Lion!

 

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - Kingdom of Faerghus trailer - Nintendo Switch - YouTube

 

Of the newly released designs, I think that Annette is easily the best looking. Felix and Ingrid aren't bad, but they certainly threw me for a loop and will take some getting used to. (The lighting we first see Felix in made me think he was a different character altogether!) Sylvain and Ashe look like true mid-evolutions in terms of design, and while I'm not sold on it, I do think it could be much, much worse. 

Eagle-eyed viewers also noted that Felix is dressing like his father Rodrigue, which may hint at the hand that we see in the second trailer at 2:24 is probably Felix's not Rodrigue's. 

 

Other viewers have made notice of the fact that most of the Blue Lions have elemental attacks, which will circle back to the tweets this week before exploring what that means. 

As I said earlier, the FEW Twitter's daily tweets changed this week. They started dropping bits of information about the House Leaders and their retainers in terms of class and combat that we hadn't fully known before. 

The first major piece of information was that each character may have a preferred set of classes instead of just one this time around. The tweets only mentioned one per character, but I'm sure there will be more. 

Edelgard and Hubert were mentioned first. Edelgard's class is Armored Lord, and her attacks induce flames that deal continuous damage. Keep attacking enemies and they'll explode as well. Hubert's class is Dark Mage predictably. This class's attacks will imbed opponents with spikes that can be detonated at the player's discretion to trigger an explosion. 

Dimitri's class is High Lord, and his attacks do Thunder damage that shock enemies and allow them to be knocked back and shock even more enemies. (This makes me think of the electric stunning in the Insomniac Spider-Man games.) Dedue's class is Armored Knight, and he has two abilities it seems. The first is a damage reducer that extends to allies up to a certain range, and the other is a charge up explosive knock-back ability. 

Claude's class is Wyvern Master attuned to Wind attacks. His attacks induce a status called Shredded, which makes it so that when the Shredded foe is attacked, it'll create wind blades that attack other nearby opponents. Hilda's class is Brigand, and her elemental attribute is Thunder, allowing her to draw in opponents like a magnet before unleashing powerful blows. 

While these elemental attributes are cool, I'm a little torn about them. I'm pretty sure they all fit the character's Reason spell lists or in-game attributes, but some weird to me. Yes, Dimitri does learn Thunder and Thoron in Three Houses, but the attribute of Thunder doesn't feel right for him, at least not to me. With his Crest being the Grim Dragon Crest, and the prince's own arcs, I feel as if Light or Dark would do better for him than Thunder. And yes, I get it, this balances out the House Leaders with each type of Anima or "base" magic, it doesn't fully fit for me. 

But that's a side-point. Anyways, as I said earlier, eagle-eyed fans have noticed that most of the Blue Lions seem to have some sort of affect around them: 

Mercedes seems to be light-themed

Annette has musical notes (and gets to have multiple magic types for her abilities, alongside a Thunder Axe or possibly Crusher). 

Sylvain may have a Light/Dark combination going on. 

Ashe may have wind

Ingrid has ice/water effects

Felix is the only one fans couldn't figure out, which is weird to me since I thought that he'd be the go-to Thunder user while Sylvain could be the go-to Fire user for the Blue Lions, but that doesn't seem to be the case. This all could change, however. 

 

Anyways, that's all I've seen and spotted for now. I'll probably do another update when the next House is released...which could be anywhere from today to Monday to next Friday. ...yeah, next Friday is probably the most likely time...

 

https://serenesforest.net/2022/05/13/three-hopes-character-class-profiles-from-twitter/

[Use the Falchion]

A four chapter "prologue" demo is out, and the Ashen Wolves are in!

[Use the Falchion]

I regret to inform fans of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and fans looking forward to Fire Emblem: Three Hopes, that Billy Kametz, the voice of Ferdinand Von Aegir, has passed away due to Stage 4 Colon Cancer. 

Billy's role as Ferdinand is all I really know him from, but he brought that character to life in so many ways, as I'm sure he did to every role and character. Though he may be gone, through his work he'll live on. In our hearts and the hearts of thousands if not millions of future players and viewers of his work, he will continue to live on. May he rest in peace and in power, and may his family be granted peace. 

[Use the Falchion]

Just some quick speculation based off of a cool observation fans have discovered in throughout the demo (with some minor assistance from the datamine), and some good old-fashioned fan theorizing. 

Basically, fans have theorized that all three routes in Three Hopes are somewhat canonical, as they all seem to be happening around the same time. I won't go into specifics, but there is some evidence of this based on what's happening in the game and within certain demo chapters. 

A fan on Reddit was asking about a scene with Edelgard as well. In the latest trailer, it's possible to see a mysterious magic-imbued person behind Edelgard when Dimitri attacks her. I have a wild theory that ties this together with several of the scenes shown in the three major trailers. Of course, this doesn't account for everything and I'm sure the game is hiding a LOT more, but it's fun speculation for now. (I'm also probably wrong, but hopefully I can look back on this and laugh.) 

The TL;DR - Edelgard will be controlled by someone from TWSITD near the battle of Garrag Mach, and this will lead to all three lords teaming up in pairs while laying the groundwork for all three to work together at the end of the game. 

There's a moment in the first trailer at 1:29 where Edelgard has a hand on her head and looks like she might be in pain. Maybe that moment leads to her being controlled by TWSITD, which leads to her fighting Dimitri in the scenario above? The main problem I have with this theory is that the background/lighting seems to be off. Maybe that scene happens beforehand, and then it leads into Dimitri fighting Edelgard here.

Maybe Edelgard gets her headache slightly before the battle at Garrag Mach. During the battle itself, Claude and Dimitri team up for a bit, providing the back-to-back scene before Dimitri runs off and Claude holds the army back. (Announcement Trailer 1:11 and Awakened Rivals Trailer 1:36). At the gates of Garrag Mach, Dimitri sees Edelgard. He sees someone controlling or talking to her, and he approaches, knocking Dark Magic aside. (Mysterious Mercenary trailer 2:20-2:22.) Dimitri rushes the mysterious controller and goes to attack, but he is beaten back by Edelgard. (Awakened Rivals trailer 1:37-1:39.) The level begins in earnest, and players must reach Edelgard (if on Scarlet Gleam) or Dimitri (if on Azure Moon), or hold back the Imperial army while the battle rages on (if on Verdant Wildfire). From there, Edelgard is taken out of her stupor and attacks the person who controlled her, with Dimitri weirdly being worried about her. (Mysterious Mercenary trailer 2:26.) Both are beaten back, although I think the details of this particular scene are determined by which route is taken. After the fights, Claude talks to Edelgard about what happened or her view of things, and all three lords go their separate ways, gaining a great deal of information yet left with even more questions, and not able to come to a long-term agreement or truce. (Announcement trailer 1:10.) They all meet up on the battlefield later during the game, only to be stopped by Claude instead of incurring another Gronder Field battle. (Announcement Trailer 1:12-1:13.) From here, the three lords team up, and the game travels to its conclusion.

But of course, that doesn't answer everything. We see Rhea in her Seiros garb, Flayn and Seteth still have roles to play, and Shamir's scene needs to take place.

Besides, I'm probably wrong anyways.

 

EDIT: Bonus points if this scene is caused by [MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THREE HOUSES BLUE LIONS' ROUTE AKA AZURE MOON] 

Spoiler

Cornelia. What is Cornelia brought Edelgard's mother, Anselma/Patricia to the fight, and used the distraction of Edelgard's mother to gain control of Edelgard herself. Cornelia then puppets Edelgard around. Dimitri, seeing the two together, thinks that they're in cahoots and goes to attack Cornelia. However, Edelgard defends her. Eventually Edelgard is freed from the mind control and goes to attack Cornelia, but she gets away once again, although not before harming Dimitri and forcing him to retreat. Maybe depending on whose route is being played, Patricia/Anselma may be a playable character or a major NPC. I don't know. I didn't look at the leaks.

Anselma/Patricia is one of the final major NPCs without a portrait, and I'm sure she'll have some role to play in this game. 

 

[aneonfoxtribute]

I beat the demo a bit ago, and it's fantastic. Need to finish Golden Deer before this game comes out

[Use the Falchion]

Reviews are in and up! At the time of me writing this, Three Hopes sits at an impressive 80/100 on Metacritic. This may not seem too high for Fire Emblem, but for Warriors games this is apparently incredibly impressive. The reviews on YouTube for the most part are pretty positive as well! Nintendo Life and GameXplain are my favorites at this time, as I think they cover the strengths of the game and its weaknesses fairly evenly...minus one rant about Lorenz, who I feel the reviewer really didn't give a shot in this game or Three Houses.*

Still, not every review is as positive. Polygon notes that the game doesn't really bring anything new to the Warriors table and its additions to the FEW spin-off are good at best. Gamespot thinks the game is good, but it's not the best for either outing. 

The gist I'm getting that there's a bit of a sorting algorithm to enjoyment for this game - from most to least, if you're a fan of:

Warriors and Three Houses

Three Houses

Warriors

Neither 

 

The reviews have also confirmed some stuff that was alluded to in the datamine and/or hinted at in the previews and demo gameplay. I'm talking about playable units on different routes. Recruitment once again returns, but now we have a clearer vision as to who's recruitable on what route. We have the most info for Azure Gleam and the least info for Verdant Wildfire. Everything listed below is from the YouTube reviews of channels such as GameXplain, Nintendo Life, and God is a Geek. 

Scarlet Blaze known recruitable units: SPOILERS AHEAD

Spoiler

Marianne

Ignatz

Lorenz

 

Azure Gleam known recruitable and future units: SPOILERS AHEAD

Spoiler

Dorothea

Petra 

Bernadetta

Ignatz

Shamir

Lorenz

Marianne

Raphael

 

Future Units:

Seteth

Catherine

(I've heard Flayn is playable and was spotted, but I didn't see her.) 

 

Golden Wildfire known recruitable and future units: SPOILERS AHEAD

Spoiler

Petra

Bernadetta

Holst

 

*Lorenz is a pretty interesting character in Three Houses. I went in expecting to hate him, but I love his post-timeskip design, and his supports with Ignatz, Claude, Marianne, and Leonie are some of the best in the game. Lorenz in Three Hopes so far shines just as bright when pushed into a world where the line between commoners and nobles is starting to blur ,leaving his own place in the world less secure.

[Use the Falchion]

I just saved over my Verdant Wildfire playthrough. Now I have two options. 

Option 1 - replay up to the point I was, or at least roughly where I was. This would definitely allow me to spend the next few days playing, which is what I wanted. 

Option 2 - I just keep on with my Azure Gleam playthrough, and use NG+ for Verdant Wildfire. 

 

Both are legitimate options, although I admit I'll miss Claude and the gang...

[aneonfoxtribute]

And that marks the end of Azure Gleam! All in all, it was worse than Azure Moon, but I never expected it to reach its heights anyway. Dimitri's character arc was one of the largest parts of why I loved Azure Moon, and they obviously can't do the same thing in Gleam. But I still really liked it. I got more time with some of the best characters in the original game, and they're just as good in this game as the last. Probably the worst thing I can say about it is that Edelgard's conclusion isn't nearly as satisfying as it was in Azure Moon

[Use the Falchion]

15 hours ago, aneonfoxtribute said:

And that marks the end of Azure Gleam! All in all, it was worse than Azure Moon, but I never expected it to reach its heights anyway. Dimitri's character arc was one of the largest parts of why I loved Azure Moon, and they obviously can't do the same thing in Gleam. But I still really liked it. I got more time with some of the best characters in the original game, and they're just as good in this game as the last. Probably the worst thing I can say about it is that Edelgard's conclusion isn't nearly as satisfying as it was in Azure Moon

Ay Azure Gleam! I'm pretty much in the same boat, but I think I liked it more than most. It's far from perfect, but of the routes, I'm happy that was my first (and only at this time). 

Here's a cool analysis of Azure Gleam and its ending! I think it really helps put the ending things in a new context. (I never hated the ending, but I do see its flaws.)

[aneonfoxtribute]

That's an interesting analysis. I don't think it changes my mind very much on Edelgard's conclusion specifically, but it's a neat perspective