It’s been a couple of years since I finished my initial run through Fire Emblem: Three Houses. At the time, I remember very much enjoying my tenure at Gerreg Mach Monastery and seeing the story play out. I wasn’t and still am not all that psyched about Byleth as a character, but they get the job done I suppose. I’ve finally returned to the game now and am seeing everything that its new game plus mode has to offer. As with most such modes, it comes with both boons and banes.
The advantages of playing in new game plus mode are pretty significant. I can immediately rank up all the characters outside my house to B rank support, making them easy to recruit. I can instantly rank up both my “professor” level and skill levels, giving me much more time to work with on monastery days. I even have a bunch of hold items that grant special buffs to their holders. In short, it’s much easier to put together a steam-roller crew of an army earlier in the game. This takes away some of the challenge I suppose, but I’m hoping playing on hard mode will offset that a bit.
As for drawbacks, well I suppose there isn’t quite as much urgency as there was in the initial playthrough. Before, I had to very carefully consider how I spent my time each in-game day. If I wound up wasting time, I could wind up with under-leveled units or even miss out on certain characters altogether. Even if I was carefully following my plan, it was impossible to do everything. This time around though, time management isn’t so important. I can make much better use of “exploration” days, so that means it’s not as big of a deal to spend a day on mission or something instead. It’s convenient, but it does make the monastery days a bit less interesting.
Having the extra time with the characters also had me missing the extra support levels seen in the likes of Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Fates. I know some fans dislike these games because for the so-called “dating sim” elements (and yeah the “house” events in Fates were a little much), but there was something satisfying in seeing characters grow closer as the hours and story wore on. So of that exists in Three Houses too of course, but somehow it’s just not as interesting.
Overall though, if you’ve played through Three Houses once already and haven’t yet tried its new game plus mode, I definitely recommend giving it a try. If nothing else, it’s a chance to experience a new story line and enjoy the game at a more relaxed pace. Still, here’s hoping the next game’s main character has more personality than Byleth. The dude’s just straight up boring!
Have you played Fire Emblem: Three Houses? What do you like about it? What do you think of new game plus in other games?
VIRTUAL BASTION 