Fire Emblem - Three Houses coming July 26th!

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.

Which team are you now? (After time skip info)

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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

I'm an outsider on this series as a whole, but...as an asexual I really like the idea of being able to achieve the highest level of bond and have it be platonic, not romantic. I wish that was an option with some of the opposite gender pairs, too...I've never been fond of the idea that you can never truly be best friends with someone of the opposite gender, as for me, that's the only option, with anyone, regardless of gender. I would love if that were possible in any game where you can pair up with your choice of most important person.

I don't want that to happen at the expense of others, mind you. But it's a very appealing option for me...being able to say I have the best and closest relationship possible with someone, but it's platonic love. It's just really cruddy that it seemed like these would be same-gender romantic options and now that thought has been mostly snatched away. If I'm understanding things right, at least...I haven't actually been following much news on this game.
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Bluie
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Post  Posted:

Honestly? That's fair. I just think the whole misinformation + expectations is being a bummer all around for people. Romance is a big draw for a lot of people when it comes to modern Fire Emblem (i'm either or, I love the entire series equally - because the gameplay is a joy) so when your prefered candidate is no longer an option, I personally understand the disappointment.

There are a lot of platonic supports though in the series, MC or not. Fates even had an A+ option rather than S for platonic support so they could get the same stat bonuses despite not being in romantic relationships. I'm just gonna, again, see how it plays out. Maybe someone else will strike my fancy or maybe these platonic supports will be so good I won't even care anymore lol.
Little Anon Fishie
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Post  Posted:

Um, so I know that I shouldn't be so in the spoiler,but I thought it would be interesting to share but outside of Byleth, there are some characters that can have a same « Chicken Hugging » relationship. I will post them in the spoiler.
Spoiler:
Dorothea x Petra
Mercedes x Annette
(Implied)Caspar x Linhardt
Dorothea x Manuela
(Implied)Edelgard x Lysithea
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

Oh yeah, no...I have no intention of saying I should get what I like at anyone else's expense, since what I prefer is probably in the tiniest of minorities, and it's not like I want it urgently or anything. And I'm fine with romance in games anyway...no skin off my nose. Some of them are really interesting and I'm quite into it. I don't mind pairing people up at all. I like it, in fact.

Games are for fantasy, after all. I just wanted to sneak in the viewpoint of someone who, irl, can't deal with romantic relationships at all. (It doesn't matter how much I love a person, even if I'm stupid-crazy about them...I will never want to touch their bits.) I just feel like platonic love is always downplayed by the world in general as some lesser option, and while I've accepted that as a fact since long ago, it was really upsetting to me in my twenties, and once in a while it's still just a bit grating. So hearing that you can get the highest grade of relationship while still on a platonic level is just a big surprise to me, and it sounds really nice. :) It makes me want to play the game a little more...I've been undecided all along. I'm gonna be relying on a few of you guys for overall impressions once you've finished before I'll be able to decide for sure, but the idea of exploring relationships that get really deep but never become 'romantic' really appeals to me and adds one more item to my 'pro' list.

But to have it seem like you could have romantic relationships with all of those same-gender options, and have that turn out to not be true, or mostly not true...that really sucks. I'm not at all happy that something that sounds cool to me is coming at the expense of something that sounded cool to a heck of a lot of others. I hope once the game is out everyone will find options they can really get into. Same with having older options or etc.
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rachellion
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Post  Posted:

Little Anon Fishie wrote:Um, so I know that I shouldn't be so in the spoiler,but I thought it would be interesting to share but outside of Byleth, there are some characters that can have a same « Chicken Hugging » relationship. I will post them in the spoiler.
Spoiler:
Dorothea x Petra
Mercedes x Annette
(Implied)Caspar x Linhardt
Dorothea x Manuela
(Implied)Edelgard x Lysithea
Wait... so can you play matchmaker for the students? I'm WAY more on board with that as a mechanic than who my MC marries :lol:

I agree Kikki, it is really nice to see platonic relationships in game be prioritized! I do kind of like that those seem to be more fleshed out this time around. I also appreciated them in Awakening/Fates, where you could A rank with folks and have them be really great friends and rip everyone to shreds on the battlefield :lol:
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Bluie
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Post  Posted:

Slight topic veer, but I just found out that Dancers aren't a gender locked class anymore - and the males look fantastic.
Spoiler:
Image
I am so onboard with making my entire class dancers just because I can.
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rachellion
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Post  Posted:

Bluie wrote:Slight topic veer, but I just found out that Dancers aren't a gender locked class anymore - and the males look fantastic.
Spoiler:
Image
I am so onboard with making my entire class dancers just because I can.
Oh my « Harvest Goddess » YESSSSS

Golden Deer Dance Troupe WHO'S WITH ME
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Bluie
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Post  Posted:

HECK YEAH.
Little Anon Fishie
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Post  Posted:

Oh, I actually saw that and I wonder if I can make my Byleth as a Dancer too, that would be something. Oh, just a another small spoiler from me before I stop, but apparently there are some paired endings with certain characters from the house you chose and a character that you recruit. An example in the spoiler below:
Spoiler:
Dimitri x Marianne

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Blue Rose
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Post  Posted:

Platonic supports isn't the issue.
Spoiler:
The issue is there is no way to distinguish between platonic or romantic and supports as a whole seem to have changed quite a bit. When "s" means marriage most of the time but not for the rest of the time, that's gonna confuse a LOT of people. And I'm still not sure how the matchmaking system works and how endgame pairs are "paired" so to speak.

And honestly, while I'm thrilled at the potential of npc x npc s/s matchmaking and don't expect this to be a waifu simulator...the fact that m/m only has TWO options for the whole damn game for Byleth, none of them plot related (while f/f has like 2-3 plot related, 5 total) is « Snuggly Bunny » ridiculous and I will forever be salty.

And it's not even about sexual orientations, cause if that was the case...Petra, Manuela, Lysithea, Caspar and I think even Annette would be s/s options.

Not to mention if Claude isn't a romantic option at all, even for F!Byleth?? A LOT of folks are gonna be disappointed/salty. But that one could just be a misunderstanding so im gonna wait it out.
On the bright side, the story seems to continue to get raving reviews. But I won't lie, m/m supports getting super shafted like this still has me crazy bitter. Im not asking for the whole pie, but would having more then the absolute scraps on the bottom of the barrel be too much to ask??
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Shortybread
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Post  Posted:

Yeah, I would be all for platonic supports, Kikki! I love just having super close friends and 100% believe that people of the opposite gender can have close bonds with 0 romantic or sexual attraction present. For me, it's just that I had the expectation of being able to marry someone going in, and now I'm not so sure I'll be able to marry my top choices, plus it sounds like that's eliminating one of the m/m options.
I would have preferred if the A+ ranks returned, so that I and others would have been able to adjust expectations early on, and easier distinguish romantic from platonic. :( I'm more than happy to be BFFs with the other characters, but I'd like to find a cute boyfriend and get married too LOL.

Definitely just bummed about the miscommunication and (intentional?) vague wording surrounding the whole issue.

With how absent s/s romantic options are in gaming, being lead to believe there's a total of 8 amongst the two genders you can play as, then having that rug ripped out from under you really sucks. I went from being impressed that there were multiple options at all to being really frustrated for everyone who have been waiting for those options and were super genuinely excited for them. :roll:
TL;DR: No problem with platonic supports, and they're awesome for ace/aro people who have wanted them! But I wish the developers had been upfront about it, and had worked harder to be inclusive to lgb+ people.
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Blue Rose
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Post  Posted:

Update on Gilbert...
Spoiler:
So apparently he's still married + has a kid and doesn't intend to leave them and as far as I know/understand, the route isn't romantic. Maybe slight undertones/fanservice of it but nothing outright.

Alois' is just straight up friendzoning/bro-zoning of Byleth, more or less. And I believe is also married + kid. I think.

I'm all for platonic supports but this is not how you should do it, gah.

s/s support count
Spoiler:
So... m/m literally only has one romantic s support option, while f/f has five. smh
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rachellion
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Post  Posted:

Blue Rose wrote:Update on Gilbert...
Spoiler:
So apparently he's still married + has a kid and doesn't intend to leave them and as far as I know/understand, the route isn't romantic. Maybe slight undertones/fanservice of it but nothing outright.

Alois' is just straight up friendzoning/bro-zoning of Byleth, more or less. And I believe is also married + kid. I think.

I'm all for platonic supports but this is not how you should do it, gah.

s/s support count
Spoiler:
So... m/m literally only has one romantic s support option, while f/f has five. smh
Ughhhhhh. That's very frustrating...
Spoiler:
I think I also read somewhere that a few of the f/f romantic options were also platonic at s rank? It was on reddit so massive grain of salt, but I could've sworn someone over there did a tally and it's 1 m/m romantic s support and like 3 f/f romantic s support. Still not GREAT odds, but not 1 vs 5...
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Blue Rose
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Post  Posted:

rachellion wrote:
Blue Rose wrote:Update on Gilbert...
Spoiler:
So apparently he's still married + has a kid and doesn't intend to leave them and as far as I know/understand, the route isn't romantic. Maybe slight undertones/fanservice of it but nothing outright.

Alois' is just straight up friendzoning/bro-zoning of Byleth, more or less. And I believe is also married + kid. I think.

I'm all for platonic supports but this is not how you should do it, gah.

s/s support count
Spoiler:
So... m/m literally only has one romantic s support option, while f/f has five. smh
Ughhhhhh. That's very frustrating...
Spoiler:
I think I also read somewhere that a few of the f/f romantic options were also platonic at s rank? It was on reddit so massive grain of salt, but I could've sworn someone over there did a tally and it's 1 m/m romantic s support and like 3 f/f romantic s support. Still not GREAT odds, but not 1 vs 5...
Spoiler:
I'm ~pretty~ sure all of the f/f are romantic. Some of them may not have romantic ending slides (Rhea's is very formal/professional), but the supports themselves were romantic. A few people in the discord chat were lurking around and relayed that info, so I'm going off by them as I haven't seen the support myself.

EDIT: According to some folks in the chat, yeah all the f/f S supports options are romantic.
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rachellion
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Post  Posted:

Blue Rose wrote:
Spoiler:
I'm ~pretty~ sure all of the f/f are romantic. Some of them may not have romantic ending slides (Rhea's is very formal/professional), but the supports themselves were romantic. A few people in the discord chat were lurking around and relayed that info, so I'm going off by them as I haven't seen the support myself.

EDIT: According to some folks in the chat, yeah all the f/f S supports options are romantic.
Spoiler:
Welp, jk I stand corrected. 1 to 5... « Harvest Goddess » that's infuriating...
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