Renvalt

With regards to point #1, the game gives you a full set of units covering all your basic army needs irregardless of house choice. Their roles just aren't as apparent until you actually peek at the roster (which you can do if you say yes when the House Leaders ask if you wanna know more about the members of the house). In fact, you almost ALWAYS get a tank/healer/archer/mage/cav duo in addition to your lord (sometimes one of those roles will be filled by your House Leader, whereas other times you can tell who has what role simply by their behavior and/or physique). In regards to point #3... I dunno about Hard Mode, but I've seemed to have plenty of leeway early on (I've just beaten the Lance of Ruin chapter and Beginner tier classes are still actually very viable). And even then, the game seems to push certain units into certain roles (as I said, you can tell who has what role in your little group by simply looking at them and seeing how they behave).

First off, I like to personalize my own characters just simply for the sake of it. Yeah, I realize that the character is still going to say and do things I wouldn't (though the fact that Byleth has unspoken dialogue choice sections makes the actual LACK of customization bizarre as hell), but I still enjoy games where there's character customization. Though of course, the game also has to have an art style I like looking at (which is one of the reasons I'll never touch MonHun or a Souls game or any other Triple A title, no matter what character customization it has). The whole reason I figured Byleth's appearance WOULD be customizable is because in some of the preview vids we've seen, they had clear and obvious unspoken dialogue options a la Persona 5 (and to this day, I still can't friggin' understand why they've made the last three Persona protags the silent variety, when it's fucking clear they're going to actually give them spoken incarnations anyways). The thing about Mark is, you had some degree of customization over a set of traits, but it didn't really matter a damn lick in the end. It's one of those things where I'm all "what was the point of even having in the fucking game, then?" - and no, having a hot waifu break the 4th wall to tell me how much she admires and appreciates me isn't a good excuse for not expanding on such a mechanic. Either do it right or not at all. Robin burning those ships actually made sense though, considering that such a tactic was actually employed in real world history (the British pulled this stunt against the Spanish Armada back during the 1500s). I'm one of those people who actually hates facial hair, so I wouldn't have minded one way or the other if it existed as an option or not. I DID mind that I was locked into brown eyes, even if I had an intention to use red (or to use blue eyes for my MU in Fates). The problem with calling Byleth a self-insert is that, to be a self-insert, they have to be silent enough and devoid enough of real personality to warrant inserting your OWN personality into the character. Byleth (and other FE "avatars") does in fact appear to act in ways I wouldn't, and I'm not the only whose had this mindset, as you clearly demonstrate (for one, I would NEVER use that many "teaching" puns/wordplays, no matter how much of a scholastic overlord I was). Having a commonly found personality does not a self-insert make, no matter how much you think it might.

Honestly, Byleth is already kind of a character in his own right. The fact that there's no appearance or even name customization available already prevents Byleth from being considered an avatar in my opinion. And if I'm being even more honest, that tidbit of info absolutely knocked a few points of hype off my score for this game. In particular because Byleth is just Marth with a huge chain sword and turquoise hair. It also makes me wonder if this is the same treatment they'll be giving Mark when/if they remake FE7. I mean, one of the things I liked about Fateswakening was how I could make the "Avatar" mine (that said, the inability to modify eye colors as well actually docked points off the score for me). Either way, I'm still getting this game - my attention is enraptured by FE3H and I haven't been able to get hype for anything else so far.

tl;dr version - Dread Fighter, Dark Falconer, Lodestar, Great Lord, and Songstress are special classes that go from 1-40 instead of 1-20 twice like every other class. Vanguard, Grandmaster, Ballistician, and Witch (when we get them) also fall under this category. Long version - Classes like Dread Fighter are unique in that they belong to their own "tier" as it were. How it works is that you have Tier 1 which is 1-20, and then you promote to Tier 2, which in effect is, at Level 1, as theoretically strong as a Level 21 Tier 1 unit (if such a thing existed - it doesn't, sadly). When you reclass, you only change the class path you belong to, but any tier you were in you will effectively stay in (e.g. reclassing from T1 Nohr Prince to T1 Mercenary is still T1). However, Dread Fighter is unique because it is effectively a Tier EX - it goes from Level 1 all the way to Level 40 (think a Tier 2 unit with 4 Eternal Seals attached). Azura is one such unit that starts out in this special class of tier. As a Songstress, she's not limited to the initial 1-20 then promote path that other characters are required to progress through. As a rule of thumb, Tier EX units are treated as Tier 1 until they hit Level 20, then from 21-40 they are treated as Tier 2 units.

Peaches and Amber in my case here.

Boon: Quick (SPD) Bane: Excitable (RES) Talent: Oni Savage Also, the reason that "Excitable" is a personality flaw lies in how easily riled up the personality is - hence why it's the opposite of its "boon", which is Calm. Magic works by amplifying the power of the mind - resisting magic requires being able to think with a clear head (e.g. when you're on fire, calmly realizing "Hey, I need to stop drop and roll" is something that an easily emotional person wouldn't think of first; rather, they'll just panic and go "AAAAAHHHH, I'm on fire! AAAAAAHHHH" and just make things worse in the long run).

Maybe try connecting to him through a version that isn't IK. This may be a theory, but I'm thinking it's because you have the Japanese version and the NA version is region-locked so that it isn't compatible with the JP version. English patch or no, I'd still seriously suggest using a Hoshido route to connect. If you still fail to connect via a JP Hoshido, then we'll know for certain that Nintendo region locked the localization and made it incompatible with the JP version.

-Kinu's voice keeps reminding me of Carol Tea from Freedom Planet. And as a genuine Carol fan, I'm liking what I'm hearing, but it's making my resolution in adhering to the "No-Second-Gen-Waifus" rule a bit difficult. One thing's for certain though - she's earned a spot on my team. -Setsuna has been displaced as a waifu candidate. She sounds like she got stoned - on weed she bought from Azama. (inb4 Azama was a drug dealer who took up the faith to avoid being shanked by Hinoka) -Speaking of Hinoka, she keeps reminding me of Ash Ketchum. Which... unsettles me somewhat. -Sakura's actually pretty good. -Kudos to Miss Strober for doing a pretty damn good Azura. Pity the character is visually not appealing to me. -Beruka has come out of this unscathed; pretty much confirming that she will be my waifu come the time I declare war on the Vallanesians. -Kagero's voice actually restores her waifu-ism slightly; my IRL biological mother is not that high pitched, and that was the one problem her JP VA invoked, which in turn made it impossible for me to waifu her. -Percy is genuine Pit. Which begs two questions: is Palutena's Smash VA in this, and if so, who does she voice? Because that's who Arthur is getting in the Vallanese Islands (either that or whoever can give Percy the same hair color as Pit). -Mozu is invoking P4 Nanako vibes. While this wouldn't invoke waifu-ism in the latter's case (Nanako being WAY too young for that), with Mozu I think I can work something out. Now to just figure out a good Magikarp training session that doesn't involve DLC.... -Hana's moving down the list of possible waifus now. Esp. after hearing that, yeesh.... -Rinkah, you are making me uneasy... I fear the day may come where you inflame this heart of mine. Damn you, Oni.... *dies*

But seriously, I think I can speak for the majority of the fanbase when I say your performance as both a singer and a VA was amazing, that the haters are whiny and entitled gits and that we'd be very happy if you were to voice characters in future FE games. Don't let the weeblings get you down and know that the majority of us love your work. These are my thoughts exactly. Miss Strober, I hope that you'll lend your voice to more video games by Nintendo. Who knows, maybe you'll end up as one of the big names several projects from now? Btw, your Azura is friggin awesome. Almost makes me wish Renka (Azura's JP voice actor) had done a full length version of the Nohr variant so I could hear you sing the whole thing - in English!

I'm a Taurus, and unfortunately there seems to be a genuine lack of Hoshidan wives in my matches. As I don't roll FeMUs, this means I appear to have bought the wrong game if I'm looking for a Zodiac-certified relationship. Though it's funny as well - if we were talking Nohr, then my top pick for that end seems to fall into one of the ideal matches (FYI, my pick was Beruka for Nohr/Valla). A Pisces to match my Taurus; though what's weird is that I seem to keep going with Nowi in FE:A, despite knowing full well that people consider her jailbait (I bring this up because she's a Virgo, which doesn't appear to be a match on my end, but yet I'm oddly drawn to her anyways EDIT: I take that back, Virgo has ideal compatibility with Taurus, meaning Nowi is a genuine fit for me). .... Maybe I'm confirming that I have a taste for women that have an affinity with the Wyvern Rider class (or related variants) - but that would fly in the face of me disliking Camilla (her personality is a turn-off), who starts as a Wyvern Rider. I dunno, I just find it disheartening that my wife candidates are all ideally attuned to the version I don't have. Oh well, at least there's Revelations for that...

My opinions: Marth - Meh. Decent. Not bad, but not good either. Roy - Your Smash renditions were better. Micaiah - Her clothing aside, I find her face in this one makes her a lot cuter. Leif - I like it. Makes him look like a genuine Norse hero (and not a white armored Marth clone). Alm - Okay, question: why the fuck was that armor not the actual garb for Dread Fighters in FE:A? Because that shit looks fucking badass - he's wearing Godslayer's Light Platemail, and I like it. Seliph - While I enjoy the fact that this rendition fixes the biggest complaint that I have with Seliph (that he looks too much like a Marth clone for my liking in his original art), the art style is atrocious and unbearable to look at. One of my least favorite DLC arts. Elincia - Oh hello, Not-Palutena's sister. I didn't see you there (seriously, she looks like a relative of Palutena in this, as opposed to looking like a Mikoto clone in RD and a Nyna clone in her casual PoR dress). Eirika - As nice as your art style is, girl, I have only one thing to say here: you weren't my type before this artwork, and you most definitely aren't with it. So take a hike, wench. I've got saucier waifus to wed. Lyn - Lyndis, my love... what have they DONE to you?! At the very least, your original artwork made you somewhat lovely (even if your spritework portrait and personality was what made me fall in love with you in the first place). But this? This is atrocious - a woman like you is not suited for 7th Dragon/Etrian Odyssey-class escapades. Ephraim - .... You've got my attention, sir. Celica - The sons o' bitches loli-fied an old veteran. Not sure whether I should be sending her to a nearby junior high school, or to an idol studio to get training in the idol arts. Ike - He looks like an anime version of Matthew Perry AKA Chandler Bing. Which would be fine if he didn't look all cyborg-ed out. Est - She looks like a Sailor Moon reject. Next! Catria - Not bad. She's actually passable. Palla - Okay, how in the seven hells did Imari from Bible Black get into this game? No, seriously, she looks like Imari dyed her hair green and decided to do Falcon Knight cosplay. And somehow was trying to turn us on in the process - which is a job she MAY or may not have succeeded in... but that's an argument for a different time and place. *ahem* Moving along.... Katarina - She could easily pass as a secret character in the actual game and I wouldn't have bothered to question it. She looks like she belongs in Ylisse. Like she could've been Morgan's REAL mother or something. But yeah, she looks natural as all get out.

Actually, I find her arabesque design to be quite cool looking. And as a whole I generally don't see Nintendo chars in a sexual manner (this extends even to FE chars, oddly enough). The whole "design" quirk was aimed more at the SJW crowd that seem to hate anything Nintendo does with their women, period. Then again, I'm seeing quite a few peeps hating on Nintendo for some of the craziest reasons (maybe some are legit, but others are all "Huh?"). But no, seriously - that top should have no problem making it in as is. I can't really see Shantae that way, and I for one am a sucker for puffy pants (though you'll never hear me admit it in public). P.S. Forgot to mention that Shovel Knight was created by an ex-WayForward developer (major turncoat alarms triggered). So this is really like a faction war if I do say so myself. Shantae really should reinforce that loyalty clause - it may offer her allies in the long run against Herr Dirtdigger.

I'm gonna go Shantae on this. Her design can appeal to both sides of the gamer world (her design IS very "anime", which would help appeal East-side; and she's also powerful enough to appeal to some of the more "hardline" female-character advocates), she has console loyalty (that she only broke due to making herself have more ease-of-access), her playstyle is different enough to actually make her unique in either direction (whether she goes TPC or HGH mode), and her parent dev company hasn't been sitting on its ass simplying relying on only her (something Yacht Club is VERY guilty of). Shovel Knight would effectively be a mix of Marth/Shulk (with the Shovel swinging), Megaman (with the whole "different relics" thing and not to mention his color scheme), Wario (with that strut walk of his, which actually seems more like Arthur's walk from Ghosts & Goblins, another Capcom game that rarely gets any mention despite it being one of Cappy's old relics), and Samus (what with the whole "faceless" helmet thing). In addition, Shovel Knight's devs had put FAR more effort into the XBOX One "console exclusive secret boss fight" (which neither the 3DS nor Wii U versions got), and who other did they put in than the Battletoads, made by - wait for it - Rare Ltd, a company that Nintendo once called friend and comrade (a lot of Donkey Kong material in the SNES era until the GCN/Wii era had Rare's stamp on it, not to mention Killer Instinct - which was once a Nintendo 3rd Party IP - went and ditched Nintendo for Microsoft). And as I said earlier, Yacht Club has also been relying too heavily on their one trick pony; their portfolio only has Shovel Knight on it, and they seem to have very little (if any at all) interest in bridging this whole "Western gamer VS Eastern gamer" culture gap. Also, I don't believe Yacht Club was as eager to have their mascot in Smash (though I could be very wrong about this), whereas Shantae's devs were literally as giddy as a schoolgirl about the prospect (I think they also pitched in their own concept on her alt colors as well - again, don't quote me on this particular bit, I could be wrong). But yeah, if anyone deserves it, I think it'd be Shantae. She's the one 3rd party I'd expect to remain faithful to Nintendo to a certain degree, compared to that turncoat spade-wielder wanting to be the champion of the Retro-Style (when he's just one mascot that copied that particular style and got lucky on the fan love, compared to other companies that TRIED and failed to achieve that level of fame and notoriety). Shantae's worked twice as hard as Shovel Knight; three games and only now is she getting any real exposure (first two games flopped due to end of life cycle and handheld infamy, in order).

The music in this map is fucking awesome, and yet none of the early rips have it. I want it. Hope someone gets to ripping that track ASAP. It's the cheese in terms of awesomeness.

You're just simply assuming that. I'd wait until the results are actually out before you go calling any winners by default. I mean, I'm sure you're quite upset over the obvious Awakening reskins, but don't use your emotions as a basis to assume that Japan would think one way or another.

If it makes you feel better, while I am able to draw shapes, the lines are too stiff, my shapes are always disfigured in some form, and faces drawn by me look like that of a typical 1st grader. I can somewhat rectify the issue by drawing helmet-faces (AKA just shapes for faces), but I'll never hit the level that this guy is at. This is why I envy Japan - their work in 2D Land is at a god-level paragon.

I feel as if the hate on a lot of the controversial content is overblown, but I also fear that it may arouse the sleeping beast that is the Anita S./P. Robertson duo of "divinity", AKA the Morality Police. Hired by the Fuhrer of Morality, Jesus K. Khrist Himself. Basically, the way peeps are blowing this up, I'm expecting the SJWs will nuke this, and nuke it hard. Same with the goddamned evangelical morality cops. However, askin' peeps to calm the hell down before they wreck the whole franchise is kinda moot at this point. There's no way in hell it's happening without some god-forsaken miracle - and the odds of that happening are 2,700 to 1. The game's triggered a real sore in American prudism - and it's worse because FE comes from the hallmark of video game companies, the legendary Nintendo itself. They're gonna be wondering where their censor swords were when this was being conceptualized. IMO, yeah it's cringe worthy, but people blow stuff out of proportion all the time. I've seen worse, trust me (don't ask, just trust me).

This is the one I'm using atm.

Hey y'all. Name's Renvalt, how ya doin'? I've been lurking around the place soaking up knowledge about Fire Emblem Fates (or as it is called in Japan, if - however that moniker makes me think of a similar game within the SMT series, but whatevs). However, I've actually got some experience with the series itself (not that much though, and there's a heavy emphasis on "some"): my first FE game was actually the one released for the GBA in the states (Blazing Sword, I believe it's called). However, if you count the SSB series, I first learned of the franchise through that; my friend kept talking about unlocking a character I had never heard of before (I knew almost everyone on the SSB64 roster, but some of the dudes in Melee weren't familiar to me). Now that I own a 3DS and am part of the "current generation" of gamers, I figured, hey, why not engross myself in the communities of the games that I love? So here I am. Oh, and just a heads-up - I'm REALLY socially awkward. You'll see soon enough, but just be warned that I can be very passionate about stuff that interests me (whether those things happen to be stuff that I like or stuff that I outright loathe). So if I come off like I'm attacking you verbally, don't take it too personally - my mood shifts and I tend to speak whatever my mind feels like speaking. Beyond that though, hope we all get along.