Characters

 Byleth Einser

Japanese VA: Yusuke Kobayashi(Male), Shizuka Ito(Female)

English VA: Zach Aguilar(Male), Jennie Tirado(Female)

The main hero of the game. They were a member of their father's mercenary group, until discovering a group of youths from the Garreg Mach Monastery under attack, at which point they saved them and an unknown power awakens with them. Impressed with this, Byleth is offered to teach at the Garreg Mach Monastery, including the same youths they saved.

Their personal ability, Professor's Guidance, grants them and any adjacent ally twenty percent more Experience. Post-timeskip it is upgraded to Professor's Guidance+, increasing their damage dealt. They bear the Major Crest of Flames, which will occasionally restore health based on the damage they deal and rarely raises Might and stops counterattacks.

Edelgard Von Hresvelg

Japanese VA: Ai Kakuma

English VA: Tara Platt

Edelgard von Hresvelg is the imperial princess, heir to the throne of the Adrestian Empire, and house leader of the Black Eagles. She has a dignified, high-minded, solemn air about her, and she coolly evaluates her surroundings and those around her before she acts. Her favored weapon is the axe.

Her personal ability, Imperial Lineage, grants her twenty percent more Experience. Post-timeskip it is upgraded to Imperial Lineage+, raising her Resistance if she ends the turn by Waiting. She bears the Minor Crest of Seiros, which has a chance to increase her Might when using Combat Arts.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

Japanese VA: Kaito Ishikawa

English VA: Chris Hackney

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd is the crown prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the house leader of the Blue Lions. Dimitri is a courteous and refreshing young man who embodies chivalry, but he hides a sad darkness within his pleasant facade. His favored weapon is the lance.

His personal ability, Royal Lineage, grants him twenty percent more Experience. Post-timeskip it is upgraded to Royal Lineage+, boosting his Avoid while he is at full health. He bears the Minor Crest of Blaiddyd, which has a chance to double his Attack and weapon uses for Combat Arts.

Claude Von Riegan

Japanese VA: Toshiyuki Toyonaga

English VA: Joe Zieja

Claude von Riegan is the future leader of the Leicester Alliance and house leader of the Golden Deer. A young man who’s sociable and often smiles. Claude has the look of a person who carefully considers things and possesses keen insight. His weapons of choice are bows.

His personal ability, Leicester Lineage, grants him twenty percent more Experience. Post-timeskip it is upgraded to Leicester Lineage+, allowing him to pass through spaces occupied by foes. He bears the Minor Crest of Riegan, which will sometimes restore his health based on the damage he deals using Combat Arts.

Sothis

Japanese VA: Tomoyo Kurosawa

English VA: Cassandra Lee Morris
A mysterious girl who saved the protagonist during a fateful night. She does not physically appear, appearing only inside Byleth's mind, so nobody except the protagonist knows of her existence. Also, Sothis seems to have lost all recollection of herself.

Settings and synopsis

Three Houses takes place on the continent of Fódlan. The landmass is divided into three rival nations who are now at peace: the Adrestian Empire to the south and west, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus to the north, and the Leicester Alliance to the east. The Church of Seiros, based at Garreg Mach Monastery at the continent's center, is the region's dominant religion and is an influential power in Fódlan in its own right. In ancient history, a war raged between the Church's titular founder Seiros and the "King of Liberation" Nemesis, an era which also saw the establishment of the Empire by Seiros. In the thousand years since then, the Kingdom split away from the Empire, then the Alliance declared its independence from both powers. A prolonged conflict ensued, with the Church being responsible for keeping peace. The nobility of Fódlan frequently bear Crests, sigils passed down through families that grant magical powers. Bearing a crest greatly influences dynastic politics, with nobles inheriting Crests valued far above those who lack them. Those who have Crests can also wield powerful artifacts called Hero's Relics. The series's titular "Fire Emblem" appears as the "Crest of Flames", the Crest associated with the Progenitor God.

Players take on the role of the main character, called Byleth by default and who can be either male or female. A mercenary by trade, they become enrolled in the Officers Academy of Garreg Mach Monastery as a teacher. During their journey Byleth is aided by Sothis, a strange and initially-amnesiac girl who appears in their dreams and can only be heard by them. At Garreg Mach Monastery, Byleth chooses one of the three school houses, each aligned to a different nation of Fódlan. They are the Black Eagles led by Edelgard von Hresvelg, imperial princess and heir to the Adrestian throne; the Blue Lions commanded by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, crown prince of the Kingdom; and the Golden Deer led by Claude von Riegan, heir to the Alliance's leading family. The Monastery's staff includes those who directly work for the Church, some of whom are recruitable by the player. Other characters include Jeralt, father of Byleth, and Rhea, archbishop of the Church.

Plot

One night, Byleth and Jeralt rescue three young nobles, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude from bandits, greatly impressing them. During the attack, Byleth is saved by the mysterious Sothis, who remains within them. Jeralt and Byleth are summoned to Garreg Mach Monastery, the home of the Church of Seiros, Fódlan's dominant religion. Jeralt reluctantly rejoins the Church's military arm, the Knights of Seiros, while Byleth is made a professor of the monastery's Officers Academy. Jeralt privately warns Byleth not to trust the Church's archbishop, Rhea. Byleth is then given the choice of leading one of the academy's three houses: the Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, or the Golden Deer, each populated by students from the Empire, Kingdom, and Alliance respectively. Byleth assumes their duties as teacher for their chosen house, training their students and leading them in battles on behalf of the Knights of Seiros. Byleth and their students discover frightening hints on the nature of Relics and Crests, such as a Relic thief transforming into a monster. Various conspiracies meddle with the monastery and plot against the Church: masked warriors called the Flame Emperor and the Death Knight, the Western branch of the Church, and a hostile cult known as "those who slither in the dark". Byleth thwarts an attempt to steal a powerful Hero's Relic, the Sword of the Creator. Unexpectedly, the Sword activates when Byleth holds it, and Rhea allows them to keep it.

Gameplay

 Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical role-playing game in which players control a player character whose gender and name are chosen at the beginning of the game. During the opening hours, the player character is asked to teach at the Garreg Mach Monastery, which acts as a hub for game activities. Choosing a particular house to teach impacts the narrative from that point on. The player's time is divided between story-based battles that advance the main narrative, and periods in Garreg Mach where they interact with students and staff members there. While the opening half of the game focuses on this school system, the story skips ahead five years and focuses more on battle, with the player being locked to the house they chose during the opening half.

During the periods between storyline battles, the player has a set number of days marked on a calendar, which can be used for a variety of activities from teaching classes and field exercises to planting seeds in the greenhouse and fishing in the pond. The player also has free time events, where they can socially interact with students and build up relationships with them. Building a relationship is done through Support actions, with actions and dialogue choices impacting a character's Support level. If the relationship is strong enough, this can lead to the two marrying after a story-based time skip event. By raising particular attributes through actions in battle and within the Monastery, the player can recruit students from other houses, alongside other characters. Each action during academy sections costs a fixed number of time points, with a set number of time points available each day and more activities than can be covered by the points available. The player must choose which events to trigger, losing access to others in consequence. Network play and Amiibo functionality are also supported, with network play allowing players to passively visit other players' monasteries online, and compatible Amiibo figures to be scanned for additional materials and bonus music tracks for scanning Fire Emblem-specific Amiibo.

As with other Fire Emblem games, Three Houses uses a turn-based battle system; players take control of a set number of unique units. They move across a grid, transitioning from a top-down perspective to a third-person view when a battle is triggered. A new feature to the series allows player to hire Battalions, additional troops that can support a chosen unit. Battalions have passive abilities which grant character buffs to the lead unit, and can perform special moves called Gambits, which can range from healing multiple units to stunning powerful enemies. Players can also zoom in on the battlefield to assess individual battalions. As with other entries, there is a "Classic" mode where characters who fall in battle are subjected to permanent death, and a "Casual" mode where fallen characters are revived after each battle. After a certain point in the story, players can rewind and undo a set amount of turn actions per battle using the "Divine Pulse" ability.

Every unit is assigned a character class, which can be customized. While characters have starting abilities which naturally grant them a class, they can be taught additional skills which alter their class. Class changes are available upon a student's "certification" during the school segments, with certain prerequisites recommended to have a higher chance at passing the corresponding certification exam. Prior to starting a school week, lesson plans can be put into place to individually manage a unit's growth, build Support between two classmates by engaging them in group assignments, or simply instruct the class automatically with a passive "auto-instruct" feature. Rather than the previously-established Weapon Triangle of earlier Fire Emblem games, different units have weapon-based skills called Combat Arts they can be taught during the school segments. Weapons have a set number of uses before they degrade and have their stats reduced. Combat Arts are learned by becoming proficient in a type of weapon. They deal higher damage than standard attacks in exchange for a large chunk of a weapon's durability.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses introduction

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo for the Nintendo Switch and published worldwide by Nintendo. It is the sixteenth installment in the Fire Emblem series and the first one for home consoles since Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, originally released in 2007.

Three Houses is set on the continent of Fódlan, divided between three ruling superpowers currently at peace. These nations are connected through the Garreg Mach Monastery, which houses a church and an Officer's school for students from each nation. Taking the role of Byleth, a former mercenary with a mysterious past and the academy's newest professor, the player must choose a class to lead and guide their students through a series of battles. The game maintains the turn-based tactical gameplay of the previous Fire Emblem titles, while incorporating social simulation and time management elements.

The game's production was challenging for Intelligent Systems, who attributed its success and timely release to Koei Tecmo, who had previously partnered with the company for Fire Emblem Warriors. The staff wanted something entirely new for the franchise's debut on high-definition home consoles, birthing the school life mechanics and expansions to battle. Chinatsu Kurahana was responsible for creating the character designs and illustrations. The game's school system and a time skip later in the story took inspiration from the fourth installment, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.