Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo, and published by Nintendo. It is the sixteenth installment for the Fire Emblem franchise. It will be released for the Nintendo Switch on July 26, 2019.

Setting
The game 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 southwest, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus to the north, and the Leicester Alliance to the east. At the center of the continent is the Garreg Mach Monastery, a neutral territory home to both the Church of Seiros and the Officer's Academy. The game's "Three Houses" refer to the three boarding houses of the academy, the Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, and the Golden Deer, each populated with students from the three main nations.

The game is set during two time periods. The first is during the characters' time as students at the Officer's Academy. The story then jumps five years into the future to a time of a promised reunion between the three house leaders, only for their respective nations to now be seemingly at war with each other.

Development
On January 18, 2017, the then unnamed sixteenth Fire Emblem game was announced briefly in a special Fire Emblem Nintendo Direct without any footage, and with an estimated release in 2018. On June 12, 2018, the first gameplay trailer debuted during the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct video presentation, and the game's title, Fire Emblem: Three Houses was revealed. The estimated release date was also updated to Spring 2019. Three Houses will be the first Fire Emblem title in over a decade to release on a Nintendo home console since Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn released for the Wii in 2008.

The E3 trailer revealed that the game will feature some manner of free-roaming exploration outside of combat, expanding on the My Castle portions of Fire Emblem Fates and the dungeons of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Cutscenes in the game are depicted in outlined CG animation, also much like Shadows of Valentia, giving off an illusion of hand-drawn 2D animation. The tactical gameplay, however, is depicted entirely with polygonal models, as in previous titles like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.

During a Nintendo Direct on February 13, 2019 new information on Three Houses was released. The trailer stated that the central character Byleth will act as a teacher to one of the three houses of the Officer's Academy. The plot will in part focus on Byleth's connection to a mysterious figure known as Sothis. The game introduces many new gameplay mechanics and features, as listed below. During the Nintendo Direct, it was also announced that the date for Three Houses was pushed to July 26, 2019.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is being developed with assistance from Koei Tecmo. The company had previously partnered with Intelligent Systems on Fire Emblem Warriors. Intelligent Systems handled story and characters while Koei Tecmo handled gameplay and programming. The character designer for Three Houses is illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana.

According to game director Toshiyuki Kusakihara, the premise was partially inspired by the friendship of Sigurd, Quan, and Eldigan from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Their story of attending the Belhalla Royal Academy in their youth, only to have their friendship tested by war in adulthood was influential to Three Houses.

Gameplay
Three Houses features a revamped battle menu with new options not found in previous entries. "Attack" and "Magic" are now separate command actions, alongside "Combat Arts" and a new "Gambit" command.

The game focuses on not only the battle aspect from all previous titles, but also a School period of time that is spent refining the skills of the students from one of the three houses. During this time, the player will teach students various unit traits from weapons, unit types, and other passive abilities to further increase their proficiency in battle. The player can also wander the Officer's Academy during down time to further bond with the students and fellow teachers or make use of various side features. It is possible to recruit students from other houses if Byleth reaches a certain affinity with them.

Returning Features

 * For the fifth time in the main series, Three Houses features a player stand-in character, Byleth, who is a playable unit.
 * This is also the second time the player stand-in is also the main character, following Corrin.
 * While absent in the past two titles, Weapon Durability returns in Three Houses. Weapons that run out of durability break but are still usable with reduced stats, as was the case in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
 * Weapon Arts, a battle mechanic introduced in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, also makes a return. In Three Houses, using a Weapon Art costs high levels of weapon durability, and they cannot be used if a weapon is too damaged.
 * Divine Pulse serves as the Three Houses version of Mila's Turnwheel.
 * Also similar to the original Archanea games, Gaiden, and the latter's remake, Shadows of Valentia, Three Houses does not feature the Weapon Triangle.
 * Expanding on the free-roaming exploration mechanics of My Castle in Fates and the dungeons in Shadows of Valentia, the player can freely roam Garreg Mach Monastery, interact with NPCs, and take part in side-activities and events.
 * Dismounting, Canto, Fog of War, and Casual Mode make a return.
 * Supports are featured and romance options are possible, however romance can only occur after the five year time-skip.
 * Three Houses will have dual audio features, supporting both the Japanese and English voice cast. This is the second time this feature has been in a main series title, with Awakening being the first and only other.
 * Paralogue chapters are featured, containing optional side stories that grant rewards, but ultimately do not affect the plot of the game as a whole.
 * All playable characters have an exclusive Personal Skill similar to the playable cast of Fates.
 * Similar to Fates, the story branches into different paths based on the chosen house.
 * Returning classes include Mercenary, Thief, Knight, Cavalier, Brigand, Archer, Mage, Priest, Myrmidon, Soldier, Fighter, Monk, Wyvern Rider, Pegasus Knight, Dancer, and Lord.

New Features

 * There is an in-game calendar divided into twelve seasons that correspond to months that progresses day-by-day with the narrative. Certain events and activities take place on specific calendar days.
 * There is a gauge tied to Byleth that determines how many activities they can take part in during a single day.
 * Special events such as student birthdays are observed on the calendar and the player can choose to celebrate them.
 * Characters can change into a variety of classes, no longer restricted to a set for each character, though certain classes are gender-restricted.
 * Characters must pass Certification Exams in order to reclass. The chances of passing a certification exam are dependent on how well a character meets the prerequisites, and the first time a character promotes or reclasses into a new class, a seal item is required.
 * Once a character has passed an exam they can change into that class at any time without the need of another item.
 * Characters learn a variety of weapon types through Tutoring, increasing their skills with Weapons, Magic, Healing, and even special unit types like Riding, Heavy Armor, and Flying.
 * A new weapon type called Brawl, which focuses on fist weapons. This weapon class can only be wielded by non-mounted units.
 * New classes include: Noble, Commoner, Brawler, Grappler, Fortress Knight and Warlock.
 * Classes do not restrict weapon usage, with some exceptions.
 * Magic is restricted to some classes, and mounted units are unable to use Brawl weapons.
 * The overhead battlefield camera can be zoomed in, and when viewed up close, individual characters can be seen accompanied by battalions of soldiers.
 * When zoomed into the map, playable units can free-roam within their movements tiles during battle.
 * These new soldier battalions are a part of gameplay, and they can be called upon for certain attacks a limited number of times per battle. Battalions also take damage as the character they're assigned to is damaged, and the battalion will be lost if too much damage is taken.
 * In addition to character level and weapon level, it is also possible to earn experience toward the character's assigned battalion.
 * Red "aggro lines" appear as part of the battle UI, indicating an enemy's current intended target on their next turn.
 * The Pair Up mechanic has been replaced by adjutants. When Byleth reaches Professor Level C, undeployed units can be attached to deployed ones and earn experience. Although adjutants ignore the deployment limit, the number of adjutants that can be attached is limited by the Professor Level.
 * There are new side-activities to take part in, including a fishing minigame.
 * Magic has a set number of usages per battle and does not use Weapon Durability as in most previous titles or a certain amount of HP as in Gaiden and its remake.
 * The Skill stat has been renamed Dexterity and a new stat, Charm, has been added.
 * Three Houses is compatible with amiibo and can be used at the Amiibo Gazebo, located on the monastery grounds. The full extent of its features is currently unknown, but among them, scanning Fire Emblem character amiibo will unlock music tracks from legacy Fire Emblem titles.
 * A new online feature will highlight squares on the map where other players' characters have died or where enemies in other players' games were defeated. Purple spaces (where enemies were slain) reward the player with items, while yellow spaces (where players' characters died) will reward the player with restored weapon durability or experience points.
 * Another online feature involves exchange students representing other players appearing on the academy grounds. The player has the option of buying items while talking to these students.
 * New Game+ is available upon completion of the story and will allow you to select a different house in the next playthrough. Other details for this mode are currently unknown.

Characters

 * See main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Classes

 * See main article: List of classes in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

North America “Seasons of Warfare Edition”

 * Copy of Fire Emblem: Three Houses
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses Sound Selection CD
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses Art Book
 * Steelbook
 * 2020 Calendar

Europe Limited Edition

 * Copy of Fire Emblem: Three Houses
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses Sound Selection USB stick
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses pin badge set
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses Art Book
 * Steelbook

Japan “Fodlan Collection”

 * Copy of Fire Emblem: Three Houses
 * Soundtrack CD (33 songs)
 * Steelbook
 * Fire Emblem: Three Houses Art Book

Downloadable Content
As with previous Fire Emblem titles since Awakening, Three Houses will feature paid DLC. The DLC will be released in four waves over the course of nine months and bundled together in a singular Expansion Pass worth $24.99 USD.

The Wave Contents are as follows:
 * Wave 1 - Officer's Academy uniforms for both genders of Byleth (available at launch)
 * Wave 2 - Additional Auxiliary Battle maps and in-game support items, and additional content (to release by 10/31/2019)
 * Wave 3 - Additional quests and costumes (to release by 12/31/2019)
 * Wave 4 - New story content, playable characters, and locations (to release by 4/30/2020)

Additional bonus content will also be released as free DLC for pass holders and non-pass holders.

Launch Promotion with Fire Emblem Heroes
To celebrate the launch of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the game features a cross-promotion with Fire Emblem Heroes. Heroes players will receive a free unit, 'Byleth: Tested Professor', if they register their copy of Fire Emblem: Three Houses in order to receive My Nintendo Gold Points. To be eligible, players must play Heroes on the same Nintendo Account used to earn the points.

The promotion will run through June 29, 2020.

Voice Cast
See: List of Voice Actors in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Trivia

 * The Japanese title is a reference to a Chinese poem of the same name, which was adopted in Japanese culture. The poem uses the analogy of snow, the moon, and flowers to represent winter, autumn, and spring, respectively. (See the full explanation)
 * Three Houses is the first main series Fire Emblem game to see a simultaneous worldwide release.
 * The Officer's Academy school chime is the opening notes of the Fire Emblem theme.
 * Three Houses is the third Fire Emblem game to use 3D character models instead of sprite artwork on the gameplay maps. The previous games were Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
 * This is the third main Fire Emblem game to have its English voice acting recorded by Cup of Tea Productions, after Awakening and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
 * This also will be the second main Fire Emblem game to have full voice acting outside the FMV cutscenes, the first being Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.