I played all four paths and ended up somewhere around 180-200 hours total game time. The replay value of this game is insane!
The general plot is that you're Byleth, a mercenary's child with a shady past. You don't know your past and you don't know how old you are or even how old your father is. Due to circumstance you end up teaching at the Garreg Mach Monastery's Officer's Academy. This year the Academy's three houses are led by soon to be national leaders. As the year goes on it becomes apparent that some sort of darkness is doing things in the background and chapter 12 inevitably ends with the continent falling into all-out war. A war where ordinary people are fighting aginst each other but also against saints, dragons and demons. And that's going to be all the details I'm giving. I'll try to avoid spoilers.
When I originally started playing I immediately felt a strong pull to Claude. So I decided to save his path for later. Which turned out to be a great decision since his path offers the most answers. If I had played his path first the other three would've felt somewhat lackluster. In hindsight, the order I played the paths in turned out to be pretty darn perfect.
First path: Azure Moon (The Kingdom of Faerghus/Dimitri)
I chose this one first, mostly because I felt the least pull towards any of these characters. Dimitri's dark past tugged at my heart and especially after I realised what kind of end he got in the other paths. Felix and Sylvain soon became two of my absolute favourite characters and I made an effort to add them to my house in every subsequent path. Interestingly, this is the only path that even goes into the Kingdom to try and save the situation there and fight against Cornelia. The other paths just treat the Kingdom as a lost cause and ignore it. This path offers pretty much no answers at all, and is mostly just about saving the Kingdom and rectifying the situation. The end to this path is basically a return to the status quo in terms of the social order, although the country map has to be redrawn. I married Dimitri in this path, although it was pretty much a coin toss between him, Felix and Sylvain. In hindsight I'm still not sure whether I would've preferred to marry Felix or Sylvain instead of Dimitri. The final fight was epic and crazy and in the end the only two left on the battlefield was Byleth and the Hegemon Husk.
I chose this one first, mostly because I felt the least pull towards any of these characters. Dimitri's dark past tugged at my heart and especially after I realised what kind of end he got in the other paths. Felix and Sylvain soon became two of my absolute favourite characters and I made an effort to add them to my house in every subsequent path. Interestingly, this is the only path that even goes into the Kingdom to try and save the situation there and fight against Cornelia. The other paths just treat the Kingdom as a lost cause and ignore it. This path offers pretty much no answers at all, and is mostly just about saving the Kingdom and rectifying the situation. The end to this path is basically a return to the status quo in terms of the social order, although the country map has to be redrawn. I married Dimitri in this path, although it was pretty much a coin toss between him, Felix and Sylvain. In hindsight I'm still not sure whether I would've preferred to marry Felix or Sylvain instead of Dimitri. The final fight was epic and crazy and in the end the only two left on the battlefield was Byleth and the Hegemon Husk.
Second path: Crimson Flower (The Adrestian Empire/Edelgard)
My second choice is pretty much the exact opposite of my first path. Edelgard became one of my favourites, but Hubert and Linhardt both totally stole my heart. Bernadetta also became very dear to me. All in all the Black Eagles had a lot more interesting characters than the Blue Lions. This path forces the war and playing it drives the war home. The map is redrawn in blood and the social order is torn apart. This path offers a few more answers regarding the darkness, but nothing definitive, other than that they're there and they're a separate and ancient power that needs to be defeated. Along with a footnote at the end that they devoted time in finding and defeating them. This path involved the most killing of other characters, except, surprisingly Lysithea. The game offers an option to save her, but gives no reason why Lysithea is special. Not until after I had played through the third path did I start to draw my own conclusions why, but the game doesn't really specify. This is the only path that turns Byleth back to their original appearance. I married Hubert in this chapter, although I did consider Linhardt for a while. This path had the least intense final battle, but some of the most rewarding post-battle cutscenes.
Third path: Verdant Wind (The Leicester Alliance/Claude)
Still feeling strongly for Claude, this was the path I was the most excited about and so I resolved to make the absolute most of it. So I recruited everybody I could find the time for (Linhardt, Caspar, Bernadetta, Dorothea, Felix, Sylvain and Mercedes as well as the Church of Seiros characters). I absolutely loved playing this path. All the characters in the Golden Deer house are amazing (even Lorenz who was the first character I blatantly hated when I first got to really talk to him, but who then really grew on me after the timeskip). Marianne made me so proud towards the end. Her personal growth was phenomenal and totally believable. This path had the most interesting paralogues, and the truth bombs at the end were very welcome. Although, after having played three paths hearing the truth was more like getting suspicions confirmed rather than having the truth dropped. And then we had Chapter 21 when this game suddenly turned sci-fi. That was a major wtf moment and I was not expecting it! The sudden sci-fi elements was more surprising than the actual truth! I married Claude in this path, because how could I not? He's amazingly adorable and funny. My heart broke for Dimitri in this path, but having Dedue back by my side felt nice. This path offers a definitive final fight against the darkness as well as answers to what the darkness is and where it came from. The only path to explain it. This final fight was amazing. Like literally wow.
Fourth path: Silver Snow (The Church of Seiros/Rhea)
After getting an amazingly satisfying ending to the third path I felt sort of ambivalent towards playing the fourth path, but I went ahead and did it anyway. This path is actually a sidestep of the Black Eagles path. If you choose to side with Rhea over Edelgard you end up with this path instead of the Crimson Flower one. In terms of which battles it was pretty much exactly like Verdant Wind, with the exception that this path doesn't do the fight at Gronder Field. Instead we get a report about how the three leaders basically decimated eachother. Edelgard is severely wounded, Dimitri dead and Claude missing... So that's great. The game doesn't explain what actually happened to Claude, but from the other paths I have a theory. This path offers the same truth as Verdant Wind, but in less detail. I married Seteth in this path because I love him :3 He's probably the character who's grown on me the most throughout the game. From being suspicious and not trusting him in the first path to feeling bad for having to kill him in the second path to loving every interaction he has with all the characters in the third path to loving him in the fourth. The final fight in this path was the classic and preordained dragon fight that figures in every Fire Emblem game. And this fight was crazy. Like all my characters were over-levelled but still I only had Byleth, Seteth and Flayn left to fight the boss. But we won :3
All of the paths end with the map having to be redrawn, since the countries always dissolve one way or another. Claude's goal is the most admirable imho, while Edelgard has pretty much the same goal in mind but a much bloodier way to get to it.
The puns in this game are amazing and it's always a joy to watch the characters in their respective support dialogues, which is why I did so so so many auxiliary battles. So I could get as many of them as possible!
I really love this game, although I feel pretty full with it after 200-ish hours. Still I want more story. I really wish for a DLC giving us more Fódlan, because I feel like I need it.
My second choice is pretty much the exact opposite of my first path. Edelgard became one of my favourites, but Hubert and Linhardt both totally stole my heart. Bernadetta also became very dear to me. All in all the Black Eagles had a lot more interesting characters than the Blue Lions. This path forces the war and playing it drives the war home. The map is redrawn in blood and the social order is torn apart. This path offers a few more answers regarding the darkness, but nothing definitive, other than that they're there and they're a separate and ancient power that needs to be defeated. Along with a footnote at the end that they devoted time in finding and defeating them. This path involved the most killing of other characters, except, surprisingly Lysithea. The game offers an option to save her, but gives no reason why Lysithea is special. Not until after I had played through the third path did I start to draw my own conclusions why, but the game doesn't really specify. This is the only path that turns Byleth back to their original appearance. I married Hubert in this chapter, although I did consider Linhardt for a while. This path had the least intense final battle, but some of the most rewarding post-battle cutscenes.
Third path: Verdant Wind (The Leicester Alliance/Claude)
Still feeling strongly for Claude, this was the path I was the most excited about and so I resolved to make the absolute most of it. So I recruited everybody I could find the time for (Linhardt, Caspar, Bernadetta, Dorothea, Felix, Sylvain and Mercedes as well as the Church of Seiros characters). I absolutely loved playing this path. All the characters in the Golden Deer house are amazing (even Lorenz who was the first character I blatantly hated when I first got to really talk to him, but who then really grew on me after the timeskip). Marianne made me so proud towards the end. Her personal growth was phenomenal and totally believable. This path had the most interesting paralogues, and the truth bombs at the end were very welcome. Although, after having played three paths hearing the truth was more like getting suspicions confirmed rather than having the truth dropped. And then we had Chapter 21 when this game suddenly turned sci-fi. That was a major wtf moment and I was not expecting it! The sudden sci-fi elements was more surprising than the actual truth! I married Claude in this path, because how could I not? He's amazingly adorable and funny. My heart broke for Dimitri in this path, but having Dedue back by my side felt nice. This path offers a definitive final fight against the darkness as well as answers to what the darkness is and where it came from. The only path to explain it. This final fight was amazing. Like literally wow.
Fourth path: Silver Snow (The Church of Seiros/Rhea)
After getting an amazingly satisfying ending to the third path I felt sort of ambivalent towards playing the fourth path, but I went ahead and did it anyway. This path is actually a sidestep of the Black Eagles path. If you choose to side with Rhea over Edelgard you end up with this path instead of the Crimson Flower one. In terms of which battles it was pretty much exactly like Verdant Wind, with the exception that this path doesn't do the fight at Gronder Field. Instead we get a report about how the three leaders basically decimated eachother. Edelgard is severely wounded, Dimitri dead and Claude missing... So that's great. The game doesn't explain what actually happened to Claude, but from the other paths I have a theory. This path offers the same truth as Verdant Wind, but in less detail. I married Seteth in this path because I love him :3 He's probably the character who's grown on me the most throughout the game. From being suspicious and not trusting him in the first path to feeling bad for having to kill him in the second path to loving every interaction he has with all the characters in the third path to loving him in the fourth. The final fight in this path was the classic and preordained dragon fight that figures in every Fire Emblem game. And this fight was crazy. Like all my characters were over-levelled but still I only had Byleth, Seteth and Flayn left to fight the boss. But we won :3
All of the paths end with the map having to be redrawn, since the countries always dissolve one way or another. Claude's goal is the most admirable imho, while Edelgard has pretty much the same goal in mind but a much bloodier way to get to it.
The puns in this game are amazing and it's always a joy to watch the characters in their respective support dialogues, which is why I did so so so many auxiliary battles. So I could get as many of them as possible!
I really love this game, although I feel pretty full with it after 200-ish hours. Still I want more story. I really wish for a DLC giving us more Fódlan, because I feel like I need it.