While Act 2 may end anywhere between Chapters 14 and 16, the primary thesis of Act 3 definitively means that it starts in earnest with Chapter 17, and any unaccounted for chapters are transitional or setup. That is because Act 3 is about Prince Lyon, what makes him tick, with the Grado conflict that has defined the plot thus far being over. Literally over- Ephraim captured the capital, hostilities with Grado are formally over, and the Grado Army we fight in two of the chapters are Remnants loyal to Lyon personally.
While the maps are identical between routes, the stories are not. Eirika route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon falling into darkness- the man who once made his priority the safety and well-being of his people is now their greatest enemy. Ephraim route focuses on the tragedy of Lyon turning to darkness- the man who believed in strength of character has forsaken his own and became the very darkness he was once the direct antithesis of. At both ends, the core conflict is the same: Lyon should have been a great man, but he is no longer able to be that man because of his circumstances and actions.
I want to make this more about the structure of the story than Lyon, since he's getting his own piece, so my first observation is the fact that the plot does change priorities rather sharply between Acts. Act 1 is focused on Grado's feverish hunt for the Solar and Lunar Bracelets, which would allow them to seize the Stone of Renais. Act 2 seems to have abandoned this plot thread, switching instead to the intrigue of the Dark Stone, the world stage of Carcino and Jehanna, and the uncertainly sown among the ranks of the Grado Empire. Act 3 abandons all of these threads to focus on Lyon's nature (...OK, this is technically the Dark Stone, but the object of doom isn't mentioned at all to focus on the consequences). On one hand, this is a sensible decision- all these proper nouns are no longer relevant once their focal Acts are over. On the other hand, the transitions are jarring, especially for the Bracelets, which get brought back in Chapter 16. It speaks to the weak links in the chain that come with this game's status as a side project where passion takes precedence.
How is this Act mechanically? It's... a bit of a mess. Chapters 16 and 17 are solid progressions, but then it comes to Chapter 18 and it's an EXP bonanza that poses little in the way of challenge. Chapter 19, by contrast, is a difficult mission due to an onslaught of enemies that even Normal mode can find challenging due to the sheer volume. And then it's Chapter 20 and... monsters aren't that scary anymore. Stone from the Gorgons is always horrifying, and Shadowshot might knock out your Cormag or whoever, but monster armies just somehow lack the bite of human ones. I'm not sure if that's lack of variety or actual stats, but the monster hordes just don't quite match the threat levels presented in the narrative. And then there's the Demon King himself: Poor Lyon is rendered powerful but ineffective due to his poor AS thanks to Fenrir and Naglfar's weight, while the Demon King himself suffers from the issue of not having enough to distract your team. Considering defeating him is a wincon, perhaps that is to be expected, but there's no real reason not to beat him in two turns, and thus miss out on that awesome Ravager animation. I feel like they expected monsters to make more of a splash than they did- instead, monsters are the breather sections and the whole gameplay pacing is thrown asunder.
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