Fódlan is a continent divided by three rival nations, with the Garreg Mach Monastery (an influential power in its own right) at its center. The Church of Seiros based at the monastery helps to maintain peace between the three houses by serving as an Officer's school for students from each nation. Byleth, a mercenary by trade, becomes the newest professor at the Officers Academy for one of the three houses.
The house chosen by the player will determine the roster of students and the course of story events, to the point whole character threads are ignored or dropped entirely. In this way at least one play-through of each house is encouraged because each contains a small piece of the larger picture, offering new insight into key plot points. There are also four different endings (one for each route) to the same conflict, though, there is no cannon "true ending".
For those only planning to do one house, here is a spoiler-free dossier of each:
The Blue Lion path is character driven with a focus on Dimitri's fall from grace. The house members are a loyal band of friends defined by honor, and because they are more directly related to and influenced by key players in the story, this route features a level of character development not found in the others. This route also spares the largest number of lives, but delves the least into the mysteries surrounding the Church and Byleth's past.
The Golden Deer path is focused on uncovering the true history of Fodlan and Byleth's origins. The house members are a whimsical band of misfits bound by friendship. They are the least connected to the larger inner-character drama between Dimitri, Edelgard, and the Church, which gives them more freedom to explore the world's myths. It is the only route in which the "true" enemy makes an appearance and ties up lingering loose threads in the lore.
The Black Eagle path features a major character who is narratively the driving force behind everything that transpires in the main story arc. The house members are fanatical in their personal pursuits and the most eccentric bunch, but also the least unified; connected only by their association to the Empire. It is split into two routes:
Black Eagle - Church: This path explores the backstory between Rhea and Byleth. Key members of the Church appear much more prominently than in the other routes. It is identicle to the Golden Deer route, but with a different ending.
Side note: There are enough oddities present in the Empire path that it could easily pass as a non-cannon fan-fic written by Edelgard.
My recommended order of playing is: Blue Lion > Golden Deer > Black Eagle - Church (optional) > Black Eagle - Empire
Additional Thoughts/Rants:
Playing the Empire as the final route feels like the best way to end the marathon, but as much as I enjoyed playing through each house, piecing together the disjointed story bits, the individual routes never felt like an emotionally fulfilling, tight story in their own right. The game was literally ripped into four different pieces, with the first half playing out more-or-less the same regardless of the player's choices. The second half switches things up a bit, but reuses the same battle sequences/events a little too often. I also couldn't get behind the idea of Fodlan being taken over by a single ruler, no matter how much of a good thing the game tried to make it out to be. The peaceful co-existence and friendship the three ruling bodies enjoyed prior to the war was much more akin to a true unification of Fodlan than the monopolization the game pushes for post-war.
The story is also needlessly complex, containing a lot of unnecessary or poorly explained elements. If they were going to create a story centered around the conflict between three nations, then there should have been more contact and conflict, or union, between the three houses. Adding in outside groups like the "Church of Seiros" and "Those Who Slither in the Dark" did more to muddy the narrative than support it by shifting the focus away from the inter-house turmoil to an outside organization and poorly explained "evil-for-evils-sake" villain.
The Church and nightcrawlers are two poorly-explained 'boogeymen' working behind the scenes.
These two Ladies think they know what is best for Fodlan.
Another issue is how much is told rather than shown, with many important events occurring off screen, so you'll really need to pay attention or else your liable to miss something. And with so much information mentioned in passing, it can be difficult to fully grasp the importance of major events like the Tragedy of Duscur. It also doesn't help that a lot of information is hidden away in character supports or paralogues, such as the truth behind Lord Lonato's rebellion against the Church of Seiros. Granted, part of the fun was discovering this information and piecing it together, but even so, way too much was glossed over or felt incomplete.
A lot of limited information from biased perspectives is left up to the interpretation of the viewer; the truth is never clearly explained. This left me with several lingering questions when the credits rolled:
• What was the point behind Solon's experiment in Remire Village?
• Why were Byleth and Sothis feeling sick in Chapter 8? I assume it had something to do with Solon's experiment, but a connection is never officially made.
• Why did Monica kill Jeralt? Was it worth giving her self away as a traitor and provoking Byleth?
• What is the story behind the spell of Zahras? What does Zahras even mean?
• Why did the Agarthans use the "Javelin of Light" on Fort Merceus if they did not intend to kill Byleth? To conveniently give Hubert a way to locate Shambala?
• How did the Agarthans resurrect Nemesis and why did they need Flayn's "special" blood to do it?
• How and why are there two creator swords?
• During the Black Eagles - Church route (time skip half), what was the point of the scene where Demitri (supposedly dead) appears before Byleth at Gareg Mach Monastey? Nothing ever comes of it, and it is never mentioned again.
• Why did Byleth's/Sothis crest stone disappear after Rhea's death in the Empire route but not in the Church route?
Byleth's time is split between story-based battles and Garreg Mach Monastery which acts as a hub area. A calendar restricts what activities are available: classes are taught on Monday, a choice of field exercises/free roam/extra study on Sunday, and a story-based battle at the end of the month. Free roaming allows Byleth interact with students (and possibly recruit them) or enjoy hobbies such as gardening and fishing. Field exercises allow Byleth's class to gain battle experience and additional levels, while extra studying will increase students skill sets. There is also a social aspect; Byleth can build up relationships with the students through teaching, gifts, and dialogue choices. By raising particular attributes, Byleth can recruit students from the other houses.
Battles take place on a grid map design. The terrain type varies from lava (all but flying units get burned) to beach and desert (mounted units are slowed), to open fields. The maps are reused often in the same campaign with slight or no variations, leading to some redundancy. There are also weather effects like fog that will obstruct your visibility or items like bridges and levers that will open new pathways. In battle players take control of a set number of units (students) that move across the grid, transitioning from a top-down perspective to a third-person view when an attack is triggered.
Every student has a character class that can be changed just before battle, and students can gain new classes by reaching the required skill level for the desired class. A character class determines how far a unit can move in battle, what tiles they can attack, and what strengths and weaknesses they have. Any weapon can be wielded by any class. However, weapons degrade through use and special "Combat Arts", while powerful, will degrade a weapon faster.
Left: Byleth teaches new class skills. Right: Character stats improve in battle.
Battalions are additional troops that can be assigned to support a single unit (student). Battalions have passive abilities that grant buffs and enable special moves called "Gambits", which range from healing units to stunning enemies.
Left: Solo. Right: Backed by a battalion.
Students will retreat when near-death. "Classic" mode subjects characters to perma-death.
Three Houses is a fantastic game mechanically, and the perfect entry-point into the series. I got really attached to the characters through their supports and there are more characters to meet and recruit than would be practical to deploy in battle. I also loved that Byleth wasn't the center of their worlds. The cast had families and friendships with that developed and fell apart, regardless if Byleth got involved in their lives or not.
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