Fire Emblem: Three Houses Maddening Difficulty Update and DLC Wave 2 Make a Splash

[WARNING: This article may contain extremely minor spoilers in some images.]

Extra content, helpful gameplay items, and, of course, "ball is life" memes. Tuesday's updates to the smash hit anime-chess-tactics-professor simulator that is Fire Emblem: Three Houses have been received very well for multiple reasons.

The first among these is that the update followed up on Three Houses director Genki Yokota's pre-release statement to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu regarding Lunatic Difficulty, a beloved aspect of prior games for hardcore fans that was notably missing when 3H released in July. Director Yokota placated worried fans by promising that Lunatic Difficulty would be provided as a free update to the game, and on Sep. 10th, it indeed was released under the new name 'Maddening' Difficulty. Early reviews of the game praised almost all aspects of the gameplay aside from the difficulty, which some noted felt a little too easy. Regardless, the game holds a stellar 89 average score across 96 critic reviews on Metacritic, showcasing its otherwise fantastic reception. With the highest level of difficulty now available to chew through, the most veteran of FE fans should finally have the full package they were hoping for.

The other part of Tuesday's update, and the source of much ensuing glee, was available to players who had purchased the Fire Emblem: Three Houses Expansion Pass, which was made available on day 1 of the game's launch. Wave 2 of the Expansion Pass followed up on Wave 1's pair of costumes (one each for male and female Byleth) with a moderately larger offering, including new Auxiliary Battles, a bunch of hidden goodies stashed under your bed, a pair of glasses, and ... gym uniforms? For the entire house? Uh, if you say so. 

The bonus Auxiliary Battles are clearly intended to be a bit of an extra challenge that provides a suitable extra reward. Each of the five in turn, Battle at Lake Teutates, Battle in the Forest, Battle at Gronder Field, Battle at the Sealed Forest, and Battle at Conand Tower, are made available depending on story progression, with only one being an option at any given time. The maps are more difficult than the other Auxiliary Battles available at the same time, but provide bonuses like stat-boosting item drops and extra gold on completion.

Meanwhile, checking under Byleth's bed in their room will turn up some remnants of spring cleaning gone wrong, perhaps. Found there are four items: a pair of Sacred Galewind Shoes (Movement +2), a Sacred Floral Robe (HP +7), a Sacred Snowmelt Drop (Strength +3), and a Sacred Moonstone (Speed +3). No love for the mages, apparently, unless their Magic +3 item is on the way in the next wave of DLC. 

All very well and good, if you like playing the game and gaining stats and other petty trifles. Truly enlightened players immediately figured out that the meat of the update came in the wardrobe department. 

The internet at large lost absolutely no time in pointing out that the 'loungewear' DLC outfits looked suspiciously like basketball jerseys, and especially in the Black Eagles' case, extremely familiar ones. 

#fe3h pic.twitter.com/ADgfPtmtW1

— Kelly (@mintkellys) September 11, 2019

In general, the incongruity of the DLC outfits with the characters' normal regalia was also a source of great amusement to most, especially because the outfits could be switched on an individual basis rather than a housewide one.

Team Black Eagles and their mascot Hubert pic.twitter.com/XwZ7r1e2Nj

— [muted screaming] @ church of seiros (@karnalesbian) September 11, 2019

Still others chose to ride this train to its logical conclusion, following our beloved students on the path to hoops superstardom.

"F-Forgive me..." Marianne whispers as she sinks her 15th three pointer, pulling her team up to a devastating 105-65 lead pic.twitter.com/UwdW9N7QLI

— Marianne 'Ball is life' von Edmund | 🐻💜 (@Star_tDash) September 11, 2019

if you put everyone in gym clothes before the ball everyone starts referring to you as coach and you unlock a cutscene where instead of Claude pulling up to dance with you he breaks your ankles

— Orumiru (@OrmilleF) September 11, 2019

Thanks to the warm welcome Wave 2 has received, we fully expect to get news any minute now that the rest of Waves 3 and 4 have been scrapped in favor of immediately beginning production of a sequel, Fire Emblem: Three Pointers, following the trials and travails of three friendly rival teams in the dog-eat-dog world of the Garreg Mach Monastery Basketball Association. Ball is life indeed.

Wave 3 of the Expansion Pass DLC will be released before Dec. 31st of this year. Practice your layups and we'll see you then.