Fire Emblem: Three Houses pre-release information

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was announced in the Fire Emblem Nintendo Direct in early 2017, though no more information on it was provided for about a year and a half until Nintendo's E3 presentation on June 12th 2018. After another long drought of information the game received a concrete release date and more detailed trailer during Nintendo's February 13 2019 Nintendo direct.

Pre-release history

Generic logo from the initial announcement in 2017.

Initial announcement (January 18, 2017)

The game was initially announced early in 2017 on January 18th in the Fire Emblem Nintendo Direct. At the time it was announced without subtitle and was only presented with the broad release date of "2018". Nothing of the game was shown during its initial announcing except for a generic Fire Emblem logo. This drought of information would continue for the entirety of 2017, with Intelligent Systems focusing on the soon-to-be-released products Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Heroes and Fire Emblem Warriors instead.

English gameplay from the June 12th reveal trailer.

Full reveal (June 12, 2018)

After about a year and a half of no information the game finally received a proper reveal trailer and gameplay at Nintendo's 2018 E3 showing on June 12th. They announced that the game would release in Spring 2019, marking a delay from its initial 2018 release window.

Notably, unlike previous Fire Emblem series reveals, the first footage revealed in any region showed English gameplay instead of Japanese. Unlike Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, Fire Emblem Fates, and Fire Emblem Warriors, Three Houses was not played by the Treehouse Staff during the post-presentation live stream.

Outside of Nintendo's official pre-release materials, 8-4, the company responsible for translating Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Fire Emblem Awakening, and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, announced on Twitter that they were not involved with the localization of Three Houses.

Reveal trailer observations

Curiously, there are minor statistical differences between the English and Japanese trailers. It is unclear what this may imply, such as semi-random base stats or ongoing balancing, at this point. A compilation of the differences are featured below

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="3"|Japanese vs English trailer comparisons
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" width="50%"| Japanese footage	style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="50%"| English footage
Edelgard appears to possess more defense (end) and resistance (rsl) in the Japanese trailer, according to her battle stats in the bottom right.
Matching Edelgard's increased defensive stats, Mercedes is forecast to do less damage to Edelgard in the Japanese trailer. In the English trailer it seems Mercedes may have fought someone before this footage was recorded, as her Iron Sword has been reduced by two durability points compared to the Japanese trailer.
Edelgard's HP is inconsistent in this scene between the two trailers, possessing 30 in the Japanese one and 29 in the English one. Additionally, Edelgard's HP is at 29 in an earlier point of the Japanese trailer, despite being the same level, 3, as this segment.
Byleth's damage output and critical chance is higher in the English trailer. Hilda is also forecast to do more damage to Byleth in the Japanese trailer than the English trailer. In the English trailer Hilda's Iron Bow and Byleth's Iron Sword both have less durability (45) than in the Japanese trailer (50); it is unclear if the durability has been lowered or if the characters used their weapons some before the footage was taken in the English trailer.

Nintendo Direct trailer (February 13, 2019)

Promotional image of the North American version of the Seasons of Warfare edition.

After another long period of silence the game resurfaced in Nintendo's Feburary 2019 Nintendo Direct. Prior to the airing of the Direct, Three Houses was confirmed to appear in the broadcast on Nintendo's social media accounts. During the Nintendo direct the game was confirmed for a worldwide release date of July 26th 2019.

The direct introduced the game's titular three houses, the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer. Also featured was some elaboration to the game's world and setting, discussing the houses, the Garreg Mach Monastery, the powers of Fódlan, and the Church of Seiros.

With the game's appearance in the Nintendo Direct, official pages went up for the game across several different languages. In particular, a Japanese Nintendo article for the game confirmed that the character artist for the game is Chinatsu Kurahana (Japanese: 倉花千夏).

The Seasons of Warfare special edition of the game for North America, containing an artbook, sound selection CD, steelbook case, and calendar, was also announced on Nintendo of America's social media account.

Nintendo Direct trailer observations

Like the E3 2018 trailer there are several minor differences between the Japanese and English trailers.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="3"|Japanese vs English trailer comparisons
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222;" width="50%"| Japanese footage	style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="50%"| English footage
Some scenes of the Japanese version may be from a different build of the game, as some instances of map geometry and texturing are different. There are also instances of changed lighting and different shadows.
The difference in ground/rock textures carries over to the battle scene as well.
Some of the characters shown activating the Gambit Boost appear to be in different outfits. The lighting here has a different tinting. Additionally, the hairline on Edelgard's model appears to have been tweaked slightly.

May Famitsu (April 22-25, 2019)

Famitsu's preview of its May 2019 issue.

Famitsu's online preview for its May issue was posted online on April 22nd. It announced that the upcoming issue would discuss gameplay mechanics and the game story, and featured several new screenshots and character artwork.

When the issue released proper it discussed several mechanics. Terrain mechanics, such as warp tiles and healing tiles were shown. The class system was discussed, mentioning that the Noble and Commoner classes can wield any weapon and progress to more specialized classes. The magazine provides a blurb on the game story as well.

"Armies flooding the plains, a violent clash, a battle's end. Then a mysterious girl appears. Night after night, the protagonist–a member of their father's mercenary band–always experiences this strange dream. One day, after having the same dream multiple times, they found youths being attacked by bandits. The protagonist shielded the youths from a bandit's blade and, at that moment, time stopped and the girl from their dreams appeared. The girl Sothis saved the protagonist's life by using her powers to rewind time. She allowed the protagonist to borrow her power and vanished. The protagonist discovers that the youths attacked by the bandits were students from the officer's academy at the Garreg Mach Monastery–and the future leaders of the three largest nations of Fódlan. After saving the youths, the protagonist's power was recognized and they were invited to the academy to become a professor. This invitation will forever change the protagonist's fate..."

The article also revealed several character details: Byleth's father Jeralt was once a legendary knight of Seiros, Sothis has amnesia, and general personality descriptions for Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard.

The article also covered Divine Pulse (Japanese: 天刻の拍動), a turn-rewinding mechanic similar to Mila's Turnwheel from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

June Famitsu (May 14-15, 2019)

Famitsu's preview of its June 2019 issue.

Famitsu's preview of its June article was posted online on May 15th. The preview included artwork of Hilda and a screenshot of a conversation between Bernadetta and Dorothea. The preview announced the article would include character introductions and looks into the Skill, Crest, Battalion, and Academy systems.

The full issue was released on May 15th. It included an overview of Skills and Crests as well as the profiles of 10 characters, including Hilda, Felix, Hanneman, revealing their personal skills and crests. The article further described the function of Battalions and Gambits, things hinted at in the full reveal in June of the previous year. The article then introduced the new weapon type, Gauntlets, and introduced the intermediate-level classes. The article then included an in-depth look at the Academy mechanics and how they work.

The article concluded with a description of the Church of Seiros and the Crests, including two blurbs:

"The Church of Seiros, which is deeply rooted in Fódlan, was founded by the Divine Seiros. In the distant past, they fought against the Liberation King Nemesis during the War of Heroes, to restore order to Fódlan. It’s said they helped to establish the Adrestian Empire as well. As time passed, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus became independent, and later the Leciester Alliance split off as well. A long war was fought over supremacy. However, in the present era, the nations exist in equilibrium and it’s largely thanks to the Church of Seiros."

"Many of the nobility, who are descended from Fódlan’s Ten Greats who fought during the War of Heroes, hail from families that bear crests. Crests are passed down by bloodline, but not all descendants inherit crests and only a small number of people can invoke their abilities. Crests are divided into “Major Crests” that contain immense power and “Minor Crests” whose power is weaker. Generally, it’s believed the stronger the hero’s blood, the higher the chance of having a major crest. But a child with a major crest can suddenly be born and the reason behind this is currently unknown."

July Famitsu (May 28-29)

Famitsu's preview of its July 2019 issue.

Famitsu's preview of its July article was posted online on May 28th, 2019. It included artwork of the Death Knight and the Flame Emperor. The preview announced the article would include information on the earlier stage of the story and character interactions.

The full issue was released on May 29th, 2019. The article included profiles for the Death Knight and Flame Emperor and an overview of how choosing a house would affect the game's story. The article then described how ally units interact on the battlefield, the Support and Gambit systems. Also included were a few examples of things on a battle map that could be interacted with and a brief mention of dropable items. The article then includes further descriptions of other intermediate classes not mentioned in the previous article. The article included a lengthy analysis of the activities that can be performed at the Monastery during a weekend before concluding with six new student profiles, including Ashe and Lysithea.

E3 2019 (June 11-12)

Byleth in the E3 Direct trailer.

During Nintendo's 2019 E3 Direct, a trailer for Three Houses was included as a part of a sequence of trailers, later uploaded to Nintendo's YouTube channel on it's own. The trailer focused on the game's story, revealing a five-year time skip and new designs for Byleth, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude. The next day, Three Houses was the first game of Nintendo Treehouse's live demonstration, later uploaded on its own as well. The Treehouse presentation was split into three parts; the first part demonstrated various activities that could be performed at the Monestary, both the instructional an weekend portions, while the second and third parts focused on battles: the first near a town featuring a large beast, the second inside featuring the Death Knight. The Treehouse presentation served as the first official English look into the game's mechanics, demonstrating the combat art and Divine Pulse systems as well as the Monastery phase.

While Nintendo Treehouse demoed the game live, many gaming publications were given a chance to play a demo of a battle map featuring a large beast referred to as the "King of Beasts". Recordings of the demos were uploaded to the respective publications' YouTube channels.

Fourth Famitsu Article (June 17-21)

Famitsu's preview of its fourth Three Houses article.

Famitsu's preview of its fourth Three Houses article posted online on June 17, 2019. It included artwork of Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude's designs after the time skip. The preview announced the article would cover the story after the five year time skip and new systems and characters.

Famitsu's full issue was released on June 19th, 2019, and the Three Houses article was released online two days later, on June 21st. The article included screenshots showing the time skip designs of Felix and Bernadetta, as well as profiles for nine students and three new villains, Thales, Solon, and Kronya. The article further detailed activities available at the Monastery prior to the time skip and advanced classes.

Famitsu's online article featured more images than its physical release, including artwork of Anna and the three new villains, and screenshots of the time skip designs of Ashe, Lorenz, Hilda, Caspar, and Felix, as well as more screenshots of the various activities at the monastery.

Japanese Overview trailer and commercials

On July 3th, Nintendo uploaded an overview trailer for Three Houses to their Japanese YouTube channel, along with four short commercials. The trailer highlighted information previously revealed by prior trailers and Famitsu articles, though the clips show new maps, cutscenes, character models, etc. The trailer concludes with a clip from a cutscene of Byleth and Edelgard fighting after the time skip, then a mention of the expansion pass.

The first two commercials focused on the story of the game without particular focus with relation to the time skip, the third focused on gameplay from before the time skip, and the final focused on the students prior to the time skip.

Trailers

A list of promotional trailers and videos are provided below in chronological order.

style="Template:Roundtl; border:none" width="100%" colspan="5"|Trailer List
style="Template:Roundtl; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="20%"| Thumbnail	Links	Initial airdate	style="Template:Roundtr; border:none; background-color:#222222" width="50%"| Summary
	E3 reveal trailer: English Japanese	June 12, 2018	Initial reveal, shows first gameplay; notably in English. Several characters make their first appearances in this trailer: Byleth, Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, Hilda, and Mercedes make their debut appearances in the gameplay segment.
	Nintendo Direct: English Japanese	February 13, 2019	Nintendo Direct trailer. First major storyline details are revealed, more gameplay footage is shown, 7/26/2019 release date is confirmed, and Seasons of Warfare edition is announced.
	Nintendo E3 2019 Direct: English Japanese	June 11, 2019	Nintendo E3 Direct trailer. Major story details, notably a five-year time skip and according redesigns.
	Japanese Overview trailer: Japanese	July 3, 2019	Japanese overview trailer. Highlights previously revealed information, though some new clips are shown.

Gallery

Main article: Fire Emblem: Three Houses pre-release information/Gallery

External links

• June 13th 2018 Nintendo article on the game (Japanese)
• Feburary 14th 2019 Nintendo article on the game (Japanese)
• May 2019 Famitsu feature
• June 2019 Famitsu feature
• July 2019 Famitsu feature
• June 12th 2019 Nintendo article on the game (Japanese)
• Fourth Famitsu feature
• Japanese Overview trailer