History YMMV / FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes

* AngstWhatAngst: Shez's entire mercenary company is wiped out within the opening chapter of the story, and what little we have seen indicate that Shez and they shared an at least cordial relationship. Arval notes Shez doesn't seem too broken up about it, and Shez explains that the group was really only held together by money, and that they haven't actually been all that close to anyone since their adoptive mother's passing. Further, as a merc all too accustomed to death, Shez states the only way they know to honor their old company is to get stronger and defeat Byleth as revenge. That they decide to live for that now is the only real sign of mourning they give, and even then, [[spoiler:the road to the best ending on all routes involves Shez dropping said revenge and recruiting Byleth instead. The incident is mentioned in Jeralt's supports, where Shez mentions having gotten over it over time, though they were quite attached to Berling's group, with the supports with Byleth themselves instead focusing on how similar they are.]]

** Thales already had this reputation among fans back in the original game, and he arguably has it ''a lot'' worse here. The fact that part of the premise has him getting exposed early and other Agarthans such as Cleobulus and Anaximandros repeatedly badmouth him, with the former calling him a doddering old fool, and the latter complains that all Thales is good for is cracking the whip. Even on Azure Gleam where he takes center stage as the [[spoiler: BigBad, he's still mocked for relying on a plot device to mind control Edelgard, not having much appearances with the likes of Myson and Cornelia having more screen time, being an AntiClimaxBoss, and overall being a lackluster BigBad compared to Edelgard on Azure Moon of the original game.]] Not helping his reputation is that on Scarlet Blaze, he never manages to salvage the situation at all and remains on the backfoot for most of the route before [[spoiler: losing to Edelgard and getting killed by Rhea.]] Even worse on Golden Wildfire, Thales never even shows up.

* AssPull: At the end of Part 1 in Azure Gleam, [[spoiler:after Edelgard is defeated by Dimitri and Shez at Arianrhoad, Thales shows up to mind control her via the power of her Crest stone to transform her into the Hegemon Husk, and then proceeds to take over the Empire with Edelgard acting as a literal PuppetQueen. This plot device is widely despised by many fans, as it take away Edelgard's agency and reduces her to a mere puppet for a much less interesting villain to take her place as the BigBad.]]

* AssPull: At the end of Part 1 in Azure Gleam, [[spoiler:after Edelgard is defeated by Dimitri and Shez at Arianrhoad, Thales shows up to mind control her via the power of her Crest stone to transform her into the Hegemon Husk, and then proceeds to take over the Empire with Edelgard acting as a literal PuppetQueen. This plot device is widely despised by many fans, as not only does it take away Edelgard's agency and reduces her to a mere puppet for a much less interesting villain to take her place as the BigBad, it creates a huge PlotHole not just for this game, but ''Three Houses'' as well, as it raises the question of why doesn't Thales do this to Edelgard in any other route between the two games, retroactively making him come off as a huge idiot.]]

* KarmicOverkill: There are some who don't necessarily find [[spoiler:Rhea to be a DesignatedVillain, but instead thinks that while she did do a lot of things wrong, she gets way too unfairly treated by the game for the type of character she is, especially on Golden Wildfire. Aside from her backstory that explains a lot of why she commited her actions not having as big a present as it did in ''Houses'', this game tells the player a lot more how much damage the current system and Rhea's rule has brought to Fódlan and how she is keeping progress back[[note]]Even if the game never shows this to be true, it isn't either shown to be false, making it easy to believe that it's true[[/note]]. And at no point does any defense towards her come up or any major chances for her to act heroic so that the consequences of her actions can be countered, not even on Azure Gleam where she is an ally. So for those who are familiar with her backstory and actions, they are likely to feel even more bad for her.]]

** ''Three Hopes'' has brought about a lot of comparisons to ''Age of Calamity'', bringing to mind one possible idea based on that game's twist: [[spoiler:instead of being a DoomedByCanon entry which would depict the fall of Hyrule leading to the events of ''Breath of the Wild'', the game retroactively undoes said events by preventing them from ever happening via the use of time travel. As such, fans have now caught onto the idea that ''Three Hopes'' may allow them to achieve a GoldenEnding to unite all factions, whereas ''Three Houses'' notably lacked one amongst its myriad endings.]]

** Some fans believe that Byleth's true motives in this game are that of a WellIntentionedExtremist [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans who seeks to create the best possible timeline for everyone involved due to having tried every possible path.]] One specific line by Arval[[labelnote:Explanation]]"The cycle of this world... I will not allow it to perish with you."[[/labelnote]]''might'' support this, but Divine Pulse has been stated to have its limits, with Sothis noting when the power is first introduced that she cannot turn back time very far, and thus it never being used for anything except undoing recent events.

* NightmareFuel: Byleth's introduction in the very first level is a terrifying sight to behold.
** At first, things seem to be going well with Shez and their fellow mercenaries as they take on Jeralt's forces. A few slightly stronger enemies appear, but it's still nothing that bad. That all changes in the blink of an eye, as an [[ForDoomTheBellTolls ominous bell sound rings]] with the message: '''"[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Byleth, the Ashen Demon]], [[OhCrap has arrived.]]"''' Suddenly, all of Shez's fellow mercenaries are killed almost ''[[CurbStompBattle instantly]]'' by Byleth and their elite forces, and Shez themselves are quickly overwhelmed and defeated. And even with Arval's intervention, Shez's empowered form ''still'' isn't able to defeat Byleth. Byleth's utterly cold and emotionless tone throughout the fight just adds to the sheer dread, reinforcing exactly ''why'' they are called the Ashen Demon.
** Adding to the scare factor is how the game coldly subverts the usual trope of "desperation-induced SuperMode CurbStompBattle" found in other games. So Shez is at the brink of death, and Arval's intervention grants them some really cool and flashy superpowers! Naturally, you'd think Shez would be able to actually defeat Byleth with this newfound power, right? '''Nope.''' Byleth ''still'' crushes them like before, only relenting when Jeralt calls off the attack. They don't even sound ''winded'' by the fight, and merely walk off as if the fight didn't happen.
** Not only that, any mission afterwards that lets Byleth loose sees them claiming any strongholds they walk into within seconds. Even a nation's army cannot stop the Ashen Demon.
--->'''Bernadetta''': Wait... That fortress fell so quickly like- Oh no! INCOMING!
** Their first notable rematch starts off with Shez and Byleth being surprisingly even [[spoiler: that is until Sothis enters the battle by possessing Byleth and activating her Divine Pulse. As a result, the fight turns back into a CurbStompBattle in Byleth's favor with Sothis about to kill Shez until Byleth regains control. In the aftermath of that fight, Byleth ends up looking like their [[OhCrap Enlightened One phase]].]]
** Finally, there's the decisive battles [[spoiler:where you either complete your objective and recruit Byleth and Jeralt, or attack Byleth and kill Jeralt. If you go for the former, very little of this happens except when Epimenides possesses Shez later in the story. If you do the latter, however, Sothis possesses Byleth and kills either Randolph (Scarlet Blaze), Rodrigue (Azure Gleam), or Judith (Golden Wildfire) should you kill Jeralt, and there is nothing you can do to save them.]]
** The scene where [[spoiler:Epimenides possesses Shez]] if you did recruit Byleth and Jeralt is rather creepy as well, partly due to [[JumpScare how sudden]] it is. It starts out pretty normally, with Byleth and Shez complimenting each other on their performances in the last battle (Golden Wildfire) or helping each other search for the retreating Empire forces (Azure Gleam). Arval even makes a comment suggesting they're okay with Shez burying the hatchet since things are turning out well. Then [[spoiler:Shez suddenly starts shouting in Epimenides/Arval's voice about how they need to kill Byleth/Sothis. Shez [[FightingFromTheInside regains control]] ''just'' long enough to tell Byleth to run before Epimenides takes over again. The next mission is all about saving Byleth, and once Shez wakes up in Zahras, they're extremely confused on what just happened and don't seem to remember much of it.]]

* AssPull: At the end of Part 1 in Azure Gleam, [[spoiler:after Edelgard is defeated by Dimitri and Shez at Arianrhoad, Thales shows up to mind control her via the power of her Crest stone to transform her into the Hegemon Husk, and then proceeds to take over the Empire with Edelgard acting as a literal PuppetQueen. This plot device is widely despised by many fans, as not only does it take away Edelgard's agency and reduces her to a mere puppet for a much less interesting villain to take her place as the BigBad, it creates a huge PlotHole not just for this game, but ''Three Houses'' as well, as it raises the question of why doesn't Thales do this to Edelgard in any other route between the two games.]]

* AssPull: At the end of Part 1 in Azure Gleam, [[spoiler:after Edelgard is defeated by Dimitri and She at Arianrhoad, Thales shows up to mind control her via the power of her Crest stone to transform her into the Hegemon Husk, and then proceeds to take over the Empire with Edelgard acting as a literal PuppetQueen. This plot device is widely despised by many fans, as not only does it take away Edelgard's agency and reduces her to a mere puppet for a much less interesting villain to take her place as the BigBad, it creates a huge PlotHole not just for this game, but ''Three Houses'' as well, as it raises the question of why doesn't Thales do this to Edelgard in any other route between the two games.]]

** The fact that ''Three Hopes'' has far fewer opportunities for recruiting characters from other factions compared to ''Three Houses''. The most egregious case goes for the Blue Lions, where [[spoiler:Ashe and Mercedes (the latter only in the Scarlet Blaze route)]] are the only ones who can be recruited in other routes. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration While justified from a lore standpoint]], as the Blue Lions students have little reason to fight for the nations that are [[spoiler: banding together to invade them]] you're still out of luck if you wish to have the same mixed class party that you had in ''Three Houses'' outside of NewGamePlus and non-canonical Record battles. Golden Wildire, in particular, suffers from the double misfortune of being able to recruit only one of the Blue Lions ''and'' only four of the Black Eagles [[note]]Linhardt, Bernadetta, Petra, and, right near the end, Dorothea[[/note]], while Scarlet Blaze can at least get Ashe and Mercedes and can recruit the entire Golden Deer class, except for Claude and Hilda. Exacerbating this issue is the wildly uneven distribution of exclusive characters: while Azure Gleam having exclusive access to Seteth, Flayn, and Catherine makes sense, as they are [[spoiler: the only route where the Church is an ally]], the end result is that, since only two of the Blue Lions are recruitable (and one of them only onto Scarlet Blaze), Azure Gleam has ''ten'' exclusive characters. Scarlet Blaze is slightly better, with seven exclusive characters [[note]]since [[spoiler: Jeritza]] is actually recruitable onto Azure Gleam if Mercedes is deployed[[/note]], but Golden Wildfire only has three exclusive characters in the form of Claude, Hilda, and Holst. This creates an imbalance in both roster size and gameplay diversity.

* AudienceAlienatingEnding: The endings of all of the routes have been heavily criticized for [[spoiler:not resolving the plot and leaving the audience hanging, with Golden Wildfire's ending being particularly ambiguous]]. They all end in such a way that suggests a continuation is coming, but as the game received no DLC, instead each ending just happens and leaves the story feeling incomplete. Azure Gleam's ending has additionally been criticized for [[spoiler:leaving Edelgard in a brainwashed state with no indication that she will ever recover, and Dimitri leaving her behind in a way that many feel is brutally out of character for him]], turning some fans off from playing the route entirely.

** Male Byleth not getting featured in the premiere trailer or the box art of the game had the side-effect of this. Come the "Mysterious Mercenary" trailer, it was confirmed that Male Byleth is available to choose in the game the same as Female Byleth is, which has helped to improve his reputation a bit. And while they don't appear in the game's cover art, Male Byleth and Female Shez were both featured in the official artwork for [[https://serenesforest.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/nindori-cover.jpg Nintendo Dream magazine]].

** The Dancer's class action, while rewarding if done properly (resulting in higher damage, faster attacks, and a longer attack range for you and your closest allies), can also slightly screw you over if you fail to get the timing on even one button press in the chain, resulting in your character stumbling and being vulnerable for an extended period. The Dancer class also suffers from being obtainable so late into the game that it isn't worth investing in the classes to get someone to use it, since nobody in the game specializes in it, making it take too long to master unless you really level grind.

** Shez gets instated as a student at Garreg Mach, but that's really only to justify allowing you to choose which house you're going to follow during the war as Shez being a wandering mercenary means they are unable to be assigned based on their country. You do two missions as a student, and then the time skip happens. You don't even get to see the grounds of the monastery. There was lots of potentially interesting story and mission opportunities during the school year, like the Mock Battle of the Eagle and Lion (which is mentioned to have taken place, but is never seen outside of the [[spoiler: Gatekeeper's paralogue]]) as well as the Flame Emperor arc; all of that gets skipped due to the ForWantOfANail effects in play and the vastly different political climate that ''Three Hopes'' had from Shez surviving a battle that they aren't meant to survive.

* JerkassWoobie: [[AntiHero Edelgard]] falls ''hard'' into this in the Azure Gleam route, despite not even being a "jerkass" in this game, to the point many who didn't sympathise with her back in ''Three Houses'' feel bad for her. [[spoiler:Over the course of the story, her best friends can be recruited to fight against her. Her body ends up hijacked by Thales and she has her mind regressed into her 12 year old self so she can be his PuppetQueen. Then Duke Aegir is installed as the new Regent of her Empire who undoes all her reforms and runs her territory to the ground by sheer incompetence and corruption. Her right-hand men conveniently [[UncertainDoom "disappear"]] after Thales' takeover, and her closest allies [[ReassignedToAntarctica are reassigned elsewhere]], thus leaving no one in Adrestia capable of doing something about it, and no friends to care for her. In the endgame, her child self ends up watching Dimitri kill the man whom she believes is her uncle and is unable to stop him before being captured. And finally, the secret branch of the path reveals Edelgard's present self still exists but was essentially put in a comatose state after Thales' mind control had her younger self take over, meaning Edelgard by the end of the story ends up becoming a prisoner inside her own mind and is unable to do anything about it]].

** Shez gets instated as a student at Garreg Mach, but that's really only to justify allowing you to choose which house you're going to follow during the war as Shez being a wandering mercenary means they are unable to be assigned based on their country. You do two missions as a student, and then the time skip happens. You don't even get to see the grounds of the monastery. There was lots of potentially interesting story and mission opportunities during the school year, like the Mock Battle (which is mentioned to have taken place, but is never seen outside of the [[spoiler: Gatekeeper's paralogue]]) or Battle of the Eagle and Lion, as well as or the Flame Emperor arc; all of that gets skipped due to the ForWantOfANail effects in play and the vastly different political climate that ''Three Hopes'' had from Shez surviving a battle that they aren't meant to survive.

** After the DLC in ''Three Houses'' revealed that [[spoiler:Count Varley beat up Yuri for trying to assassinate Bernadetta]], some felt that the game was [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic trying to make the Count seem more sympathetic while ignoring his other abuse towards Bernadetta]]. A new support conversation between Bernadetta and Dorothea (which serves as a follow-up to Bernadetta's original supports with Dorothea and Yuri) confirms that these revelations don't change her opinion of him much, as her issues with her father go way beyond that incident, and that the Count wasn't trying to protect her out of love, but because he needed her. With Count Varley also [[UnseenNoMore showing up in the flesh]], the game doesn't even try to portray him sympathetically, showing him as a [[DirtyCoward sniveling coward]] that even his own allies barely tolerate and only tries to keep alive for political convenience (and it's implied he got promoted to Bishop of the Southern Church for the dual purpose of both filling a position and [[UriahGambit painting a target on his back]] to torment him). [[spoiler:In the final mission of Scarlet Blaze, he's also one of the only main protection objectives in the game whose death doesn't result in a Game Over, with Hubert and Bernadetta treating his death as not a tragic loss, but an inconvenience the former and a relief for the latter.]]

* JerkassWoobie: [[AntiHero Edelgard]] falls ''hard'' into this in the Azure Gleam route, despite not even being a "jerkass" in this game, to the point many who didn't sympathise with her back in ''Three Houses'' feel bad for her. [[spoiler:Over the course of the story, her best friends can be recruited to fight against her. Her body ends up hijacked by Thales and she has her mind regressed into her 12 year old self so she can be his PuppetQueen. Then Duke Aegir is installed as the new Regent of her Empire who undoes all her reforms and runs her territory to the ground by sheer incompetence and corruption. Her right-hand men conveniently [[UncertainDoom "disappear"]] after Thales' takeover, and her closest allies [[ReassignedToAntarctica are reassigned elsewhere]], thus leaving no one in Adrestia capable to do something about it, and no friends to care for her. In the endgame, her child self ends up watching Dimitri kill the man whom she believes is her uncle and is unable to stop him before being captured. And finally, the secret branch of the path reveals Edelgard's present self still exists but was essentially put in a comatose state after Thales' mind control had her younger self take over, meaning Edelgard by the end of the story ends up becoming a prisoner inside her own mind and is unable to do anything about it]].

*** Rodrigue in general has the potential to be this in an Azure Gleam playthrough: while he has strong growths in relevant stats and is hardly a ''weak'' character, his underwhelming unique ability, when combined with the fact that he's [[spoiler: unavailable for extended portions of part I, and then has the potential to be killed of permanently in part II,]] means that it's often better to simply rely on [[GameBreaker Sylvain]] for your mounted lance cavalry needs.

** Of all characters, Myson, a generic Agarthan enemy with the Bohr X spell, has received this treatment among certain fans. He's jokingly called the best boy out of all the Agarthans, treated like the most badass and competent Agarthan who could totally conquer Fódlan if it wasn't for Thales being incompetent and the plot stopping him, or treated as a redeemable Agarthan who could defect and have a redemption arc. There are also jokes about how his stubble that differentiates him from other generic warlocks makes him stronger. This is helped by the fact that he's an AscendedExtra and actually interacts with the heroes on Azure Gleam and Golden Wildfire more than Thales. And in the latter route, he's been jokingly praised for having the brilliant plan of just [[spoiler: hiring Byleth to kill Claude and the Golden Deer, which, if certain choices are made, can actually seal the deal and end in Byleth's death at the end of the game]]

** Thales already had this reputation among fans back in the original game, and he arguably has it ''a lot'' worse here. The fact that part of the premise has him getting exposed early and other Agarthans such as Cleobulus and Anaximandros repeatedly badmouth him, with the former calling him a doddering old fool, and the latter complains that all Thales is good for is cracking the whip. Even on Azure Gleam where he takes center stage as the [[spoiler: BigBad, he's still mocked for relying on a plot device to mind control Edelgard, not having much appearances with the likes of Myson and Cornelia having more screen time, being an AntiClimaxBoss, and overall being a lackluster BigBad compared to Edelgard on Azure Moon of the original game. ]] Not helping his reputation is that on Scarlet Blaze, he never manages to salvage the situation at all and remains on the backfoot for most of the route before [[spoiler: losing to Edelgard and getting killed by Rhea.]] Even worse on Golden Wildfire, Thales never even shows up.

** Not recruiting [[spoiler:Byleth]] has more consequences than just not having another character in your roster. First off, [[spoiler:killing Jeralt results in Byleth murdering Randolph, Rodrigue, or Judith in retaliation, costing you a playable character in Rodrigue's case. And since their recruitment is crucial to achieving the GoldenEnding, the war ends up going on without an end in sight and more characters end up dying as a result.]] And in the Scarlet Blaze route, it also locks you out of recruiting [[spoiler:Leonie, as she refuses to fight alongside Jeralt's murderer and would later die of poison.]]

** The imbalanced distribution of route-exclusive characters (as detailed under TheyChangedItNowItSucks) has been noted as being problematic for both roster sizes and gameplay diversity. Azure Gleam has four starting lance users (Dimitri, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Rodrigue), which can be repetitive for players who wish to use their whole roster but don't want to be playing as lance classes all the time. However, Scarlet Blaze has it even worse, with five starting mages (Hubert, Linhardt, Dorothea, Monica, and Manuela): furthermore, in the very first post-prologue mission, players recruit two more in the form of [[spoiler: Constance and Hapi]], meaning that by the start of the second post-prologue chapter, Scarlet Blaze players are carting around a whopping ''seven'' mages. The end result is that, in Scarlet Blaze, players are likely to get very sick of constantly playing mage classes, to a much more severe degree than even Azure Gleam's overrepresentation of lances.
*** Golden Wildfire, by contrast, enjoys a more balanced starting roster, with the crucial exception of a derth of sword-users save Shez (a problem quickly solved by the recruitment of Holst) and axe users (as Hilda is the only native axe user in Golden Wildfire's starting roster). Golden Wildfire also has the benefit of being the only route with a starting unit who is natively biased towards Brawler, Grappler, and War Master (Raphael), which the other routes lack until they recruit Balthus or Raphael himself. The main issue with Golden Wildfire's roster balance, however, is that this diversity comes at the cost of a severly curtailed roster size: Golden Wildfire has both the fewest route exclusives (at three, despite the fact that one unit, Shamir, is an auto-recruit after the prologue much like Manuela and Rodrigue, who ''are'' exclusive to Scarlet Blaze and Azure Gleam respectively...except Shamir ''isn't'' exclusive to Golden Wildfire) ''and'' the fewest opportunities to recruit other characters.
** While it's reasonable to expect that characters will not have their unique Warrior Specials when playing as classes they aren't biased towards, the fact that many characters lose access to their unique Warrior Specials once they reach their Master Class, even when playing in their default class lines, has been a sore spot for fans of these unique moves. Assuming all characters are in their default class line, about ''half'' of the whole 44-unit roster will stop using their unique Warrior Specials once they get to their default Master Class[[note]] Bernadetta, Ignatz, Ashe, Caspar, Dedue, Hilda, Shamir, and [[spoiler: the Gatekeeper]] will still use their unique Warrior Specials when dismounted, even once they reach their Master Class, but they otherwise lose access to them when mounted, which they will be most of the time[[/note]]. It's particularly irritating in the case of characters who ''don't'' transition from infantry to mounted at their Master Class, such as ''all'' of the Holy/Dark Knights[[note]]Ferdinand, Sylvain, Rodrigue, Lorenz, Leonie, and [[spoiler: Jeralt]], who are mounted started at their Intermediate Class[[/note]] and most of the Gremories/Dark Bishops[[note]]Linhardt, Mercedes, Marianne, Manuela, and Flayn, who stay unmounted the whole class line[[/note]], since there shouldn't be anything stopping the character from using the same animation that they did in their Intermediate/Advanced Class stages.

*** On Scarlet Blaze, you first have to [[spoiler: trigger the Strategy Resonant Lightning after completing the first major objective. If you capture the second set of objectives too quickly due to being overleveled, on NG+, or otherwise very speedy, [[DoWellButNotPerfect the window to activate the Strategy disappears]]. The second major issue arises near the end, when Byleth is isolated by the destruction of a bridge and you have defeat Alois and then take out Rodrigue before Byleth catches up. Not only do you have a very limited amount of time to do this, but the last sidequest of the map (eliminating a stronghold near Rodrigue), as well as its chest, will only trigger at this point, requiring you to choose between potentially failing to defeat Rodrigue in time or losing out on the sidequest and the chest. Furthermore, unless you have a unit with Locktouch, the enemy that carries the key will not spawn until after the timer begins, meaning that you'll have to take ''them'' out too.]]

** The fact that ''Three Hopes'' has far fewer opportunities for recruiting characters from other factions compared to ''Three Houses''. The most egregious case goes for the Blue Lions, where [[spoiler:Ashe and Mercedes (the latter only in the Scarlet Blaze route)]] are the only ones who can be recruited in other routes. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration While justified from a lore standpoint]], as the Blue Lions students have little reason to fight for the nations that are [[spoiler: banding together to invade them]] you're still out of luck if you wish to have the same mixed class party that you had in ''Three Houses'' outside of NewGamePlus and non-canonical Record battles. Golden Wildire, in particular, suffers from the double misfortune of being able to recruit only one of the Blue Lions ''and'' only four of the Black Eagles [[note]]Linhardt, Bernadetta, Petra, and, right near the end, Dorothea[[/note]], while Scarlet Blaze can at least get Ashe and Mercedes and can recruit the entire Golden Deer class, except for Claude and Hilda.
*** Exacerbating this issue is the wildly uneven distribution of exclusive characters: while Azure Gleam having exclusive access to Seteth, Flayn, and Catherine makes sense, as they are [[spoiler: the only route where the Church is an ally]], the end result is that, since only two of the Blue Lions are recruitable (and one of them only onto Scarlet Blaze), Azure Gleam has ''ten'' exclusive characters. Scarlet Blaze is slightly better, with seven exclusive characters [[note]]since [[spoiler: Jeritza]] is actually recruitable onto Azure Gleam if Mercedes is deployed[[/note]], but Golden Wildfire only has three exclusive characters in the form of Claude, Hilda, and Holst. This creates an imbalance in both roster size and gameplay diversity: see ScrappyMechanic above.

*** Due to the differing timelines, there are characters who actually survive into the timeskip, such as [[HeelFaceTurn Miklan]] and [[SparedByTheAdaptation Lonato]], but although they get some increased importance in specific routes, even these characters, despite technically joining your side, barely have any relevance after you get them.

*** Cyril's exclusion from even a cameo or cutscene role on Golden Wildfire has been noted for how it is connected to Golden Wildfire's [[spoiler: abandoned Almyra Conflict]]. Cyril has supports with the majority of the Golden Deer in ''Three Houses,'' many of which focus on Cyril's connection to Almyra, and he enjoys something of ADayInTheLimelight on Verdant Wind. Thus, his absence can seem particularly odd since the prologue focuses heavily on Leicester's eastern neighbor, and several openly Almyran characters of importance make multiple appearances. [[spoiler: Conflict with Almyra is completely dropped after Part I in favor of fighting the Central Church, so Cyril not being present means he can't give any input on people like Shahid, Nader, or Claude himself.]]

* DesignatedVillain: Rhea can come off as one in [[spoiler:Golden Wildfire]]. Compared to Crimson Flower of the original game, where she has undergone serious SanitySlippage, takes an [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope increasingly uncompromising and extreme approach to the war,]] and appears more explicitly responsible for the mismanagement of Fodlan, [[spoiler: Golden Wildfire's conflict between Claude and Rhea is much less convincing in the eyes of many fans. This is because, despite Claude's assertions that Rhea keeps Fodlan shackled to the past and isolated from the outside world, the game does little to demonstrate this in practice: in fact, much of the detail on the setting and surrounding countries that was added in ''Three Hopes'' to flesh out the world shows ample evidence to the contrary.]] This is not helped by the fact that Rhea has essentially no presence within the route and thus has no opportunities to provide evidence to support [[spoiler: Claude's arguments. Furthermore, in the endgame, rather than enacting punitive vengeance like in Crimson Flower, her last speech has her sorrowfully elaborate on her desire to protect humanity and beseech Seteth to flee with Flayn rather than expect them to fight to the death. Combined with Claude's morally dubious actions throughout the second half of the route, certain players can wind up sympathizing with Rhea more than Claude.]]

** Of all characters, Myson, a generic Agarthan enemy with the Bohr X spell, has received this treatment among certain fans. He's jokingly called the best boy out of all the Agarthans, treated like the most badass and competent Agarthan who could totally conquer Fodlan if it wasn't for Thales being incompetent and the plot stopping him, or treated as a redeemable Agarthan who could defect and have a redemption arc. There are also jokes about how his stubble that differentiates him from other generic warlocks makes him stronger. This is helped by the fact that he's an AscendedExtra and actually interacts with the heroes on Azure Gleam and Golden Wildfire more than Thales. And in the latter route, he's been jokingly praised for having the brilliant plan of just [[spoiler: hiring Byleth to kill Claude and the Golden Deer, which, if certain choices are made, can actually seal the deal and end in Byleth's death at the end of the game]]

* BrokenBase: The story in general has proven to be highly contentious. While some enjoy it for exploring what could have happened if someone other than Byleth had stumbled onto Kostas' attack on the House Leaders that fateful night, others have lambasted the fact that each route ends on [[spoiler:an ambiguous note where the war is still ongoing and its unclear if your chosen Lord will finish it]]. This was not helped by how, shortly after the game's release, the developers admitted in an interview that [[spoiler:the primary reason they chose to write the routes and their endings the way they did was that they feared that giving them a conclusive happy ending would have "invalidated" Byleth's arc in ''Three Houses'' and the struggles they went through to win the war in the main game]]. All three routes are contentious for different reasons, but the specifics behind ''why'' they've provoked such fierce argument merit further elaboration:

** Monica is incredibly contentious. Many fans love [[TheRealRemintonSteele finally getting to know and recruit the real her]], along with her dynamics with other characters, while others see her as nothing more than a FlatCharacter whose defining trait is [[SatelliteLoveInterest a borderline unhealthy obsession with Edelgard]], not helped by Edelgard's own base-breaking status.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Claude, as well as his actions in this game, has ended up becoming extremely controversial among the fandom. Many dislike this version of Claude due to how different he is to his ''Three Houses'' self, and [[spoiler:Claude's assertions about Rhea often times having very little evidence to support them as well as evidence that goes against what he says.]] Not helping matters is that critics of his route [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks have noted its similarities]] to [[spoiler:the [[BrokenBase already divisive]] Crimson Flower route in ''Three Houses''.]] However, there are others who like this change as it makes him as morally gray as Edelgard, Rhea, and Dimitri back in ''Three Houses'' since he is forced to make some tough choices and brings him more in line with what ''Three Houses'' pre-release footage said about him. Some fans point out his actions makes sense in this timeline as [[spoiler:Claude is already not a huge fan of the church even back in ''Three Houses'', and him not spending time in the Garreg Mach Monastery makes him not as motivated to figure out the truth this time.]]

* AudienceAlienatingEnding: The endings of all of the routes have been heavily criticized for [[spoiler:not resolving the plot and leaving the audience hanging, with Golden Wildfire's ending being particularly ambiguous]]. They all end in such a way that suggests a continuation is coming, but as the game received no DLC, instead each ending just happens and leaves the story feeling incomplete. Azure Gleam's ending has additionally been criticized for [[spoiler:leaving Edelgard in a brainwashed state with no indication that she will ever recover, and Dimitri leaving her behind in a way that many feel is brutually out of character for him]], turning some fans off from playing the route entirely.

*** Due to the differing timelines, there are characters who actually survive well past their original role, and could easily have become playable characters, such as [[HeelFaceTurn Miklan]] and [[SparedByTheAdaptation Lonato]], but although they get some increased importance in specific routes, even these characters, despite technically joining your side, barely have any relevance after you get them.

* AudienceAlienatingEnding: The endings of all of the routes have been heavily criticized for [[spoiler:not resolving the plot and leaving the audience hanging, with Golden Wildfire's ending being particularly ambiguous]]. Azure Gleam's ending has additionally been criticized for [[spoiler:leaving Edelgard in a brainwashed state with no indication that she will ever recover]], turning some fans off from playing the route entirely.

** The scene where [[spoiler:Epimenides possesses Shez]] if you did recruit Byleth and Jeralt is rather creepy as well, partly due to [[JumpScare how sudden]] it is. It starts out pretty normally, with Byleth and Shez complimenting each other on their performances in the last battle. Arval even makes a comment suggesting they're okay with Shez burying the hatchet since things are turning out well. Then [[spoiler:Shez suddenly starts shouting in Epimenides/Arval's voice about how they need to kill Byleth/Sothis. Shez [[FightingFromTheInside regains control]] ''just'' long enough to tell Byleth to run before Epimenides takes over again. The next mission is all about saving Byleth, and once Shez wakes up in Zahras, they're extremely confused on what just happened and don't seem to remember much of it.]]